Wheat: The wheat sub-sector also indicated the world hadn’t blown up over the weekend with all three markets in the red overnight through early Monday morning. Then again, I don’t know if a nuclear war would be enough to turn US wheat markets fundamentally bullish. Last Friday’s calculation of National Cash Indexes showed both winter wheat markets lower than where they were calculated at the end of October meaning available stocks-to-use have grown during November. Spring wheat is interesting with its Index ($CRSI) calculated at $5.66, as compared to the end of October’s $5.64. We’ve also seen spring wheat national average basis firm, a seasonal move but stronger than average during November. Futures spreads have been slow to respond to the move in basis, so far, with neutral readings seen across the board in Minneapolis (HRS). Watson remains bearish as well with last Friday’s CFTC Commitments of Traders report (legacy, futures only) showing large net-short futures positions in all three wheat markets. However, it was interesting to see the Kansas City (HRW) position actually decreased by 560 contracts from Tuesday-to-Tuesday. At the same time, the Chicago (SRW) position increased by 7,510 contracts and the Minneapolis position grew by 6,200 contracts.
