DTN Closing Grain Comments    04/16 13:51
   Wheat Challenges 2026 Highs Thursday While Corn, Soybeans Drift

   For Thursday, wheat markets continued to be the star of the show for the
weekly trade in row-crop futures, jumping double digits again in the Kansas
City market and setting a new calendar year high early in the session. Despite
the strong showing from wheat, corn and soybean futures were unable to join the
rally, trading mixed and ultimately lower in a narrow session. Meanwhile, the
S&P 500 completed a remarkable turnaround through April to set a new all-time
high on Wednesday and again Thursday. Markets are very optimistic that the
worst of the war with Iran is behind us, despite the ongoing U.S. blockade of
the Strait of Hormuz and no official confirmation of a resumption of talks
between the U.S. and Iran. However, Israel and Lebanon did agree on Thursday to
a 10-day ceasefire. Crude oil futures (and other energy markets) were higher on
Thursday but have fallen back toward the bottom of the monthly range since the
initial U.S.-Iran ceasefire was agreed on last Tuesday.

Rhett Montgomery
Senior Market Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   May corn closed down 2 3/4 cents and July corn was down 2 3/4 cents. May
soybeans closed down 3 1/4 cents and July soybeans were down 2 3/4 cents. May
KC wheat closed up 17 1/4 cents, May Chicago wheat was up 4 3/4 cents, May MIAX
Minneapolis wheat was up 12 1/4 cents.