The Weekender | Longest Week Ever

Congratulations. You survived what felt like the longest week in history.

In a reversal of a longstanding trend, soybeans outperformed corn this week—marking their strongest relative performance since the August report, when the market was first hit with the nightmare combination of more acres and a near-189 bpa yield.

Last week was corn’s worst week in more than six months, driven by a sharp 25-cent selloff following Monday’s bearish USDA report.

Futures clawed back a few cents late in the week, settling up 4.5 cents on Friday, but still finished down 21 on the week near $4.25.

While March CBOT corn futures remain under pressure, March Dalian corn futures finished the week at a new contract high, closing higher in seven of the last eight sessions.

The divergence has pushed the Dalian premium over CBOT above $4 per bushel ($160/mt) for the first time since June — still well below levels seen during past sizable Chinese import programs, but notable nonetheless.