Corn, wheat, and soybean futures all fell on Monday amid declines in crude oil and easing fears about conflict in the Middle East.
The grain markets rallied on Friday on talk that Iran would attack Israel over the weekend. Iran did launch more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, with most intercepted and only relatively minor damage reported. Israel may still respond in kind, but at least for today, the markets relaxed.
A higher American dollar added to the downside in the grains, with the greenback climbing to its highest since November on strong US retail sales data. Favourable weather forecasts over the next 10 days also undermined corn and soybeans, with generally drier conditions expected in the soggy eastern Corn Belt, while the drier western Corn Belt sees much-needed moisture.
Soybeans saw the sharpest drop, with May falling 15 ¾ cents to $11.58 ¼, and November down 9 cents to $11.67 ¼.
May corn was down 4 cents to $4.31 ½, and December lost 2 ¾ cents to $4.69 ¼.
May Chicago wheat closed 4 ¼ cents lower at $5.51 ¾, May Kansas City ended down 5 ¾ cents at $5.84, and May Minneapolis dropped 5 ¾ cents to $6.37.
