By Kirk Maltais


-- Corn for May delivery rose 1.6% to $4.30 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday, rising as traders look to hedge their large short positions in corn ahead of the end of the month.

-- Soybeans for May delivery rose 0.5% to $11.46 1/4 a bushel.

-- Wheat for May delivery fell 1.4% to $5.76 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Technical Turnaround: Buying interest was seen from managed money funds Wednesday, lifting CBOT corn and soybeans. For both, prices are inching back after dipping toward multiyear lows last week.

"The technical rebound seen over the past two days is evidence of the interest, particularly on the part of funds, in repositioning themselves to buy at current levels," said AgriTel in a note.

The interest also comes ahead of the turnover into March.


Revving Up: Pressuring U.S. wheat was lower prices seen in Russia and France. Ultimately, Russia speeding up its flow of wheat exports out of the Black Sea is cutting into prices.

"Shipping from the Black Sea is accelerating amid favorable weather and large interior supplies are pressuring interior values," said AgResource in a note.


INSIGHT


Fire Hazard: CBOT wheat didn't add anything to its risk premium, this as wildfires tear through counties in the Northern High Plains of Texas.

Winter wheat in the area could be impacted by fire damage, said John Payne of Hedgepoint Global.

"It's more wheat right now I would be concerned about," he said. "You would think short-covering rips would come from that given how short we are."

Instead, large wheat supplies and dropping Russian export prices were the pressure points for wheat on Wednesday.


Past the Threshold: Inventories of ethanol in the U.S. have inched past 26 million barrels, the first time that they have exceeded that amount since March 2023.

In its weekly report, the EIA said that ethanol inventories landed at 26.02 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 23. That is up 520,000 barrels from the previous week, and falls on the high end of estimates from analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week.

Average daily production fell for the week, sliding to 1.078 million barrels a day, down from 1.084 million barrels a day the previous week.


AHEAD


-- Hormel Foods is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings report before the stock market opens Thursday.

-- The USDA is due to release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. EST Thursday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its monthly agricultural prices report at 3 p.m. EST Thursday.


Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-28-24 1515ET