By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for March delivery fell 2.9% to $5.60 1/2 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, following European prices lower as a post-holiday slump hit agricultural futures.

--Corn for March delivery fell 1.5% to $4.75 1/2 a bushel.

--Soybeans for January delivery fell 0.1% to $13.29 1/2 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Thanksgiving Tradition: CBOT grains and livestock both mostly dipped today, with traders seen cutting their exposure to food commodities following last week's Thanksgiving holiday. "Grains and meat prices are down sharply," said Ira Epstein of Linn & Associates in a note. "My experience on the day following the return from Thanksgiving is often pretty wild in terms of market activity."

Selling Shortfall: Claims by analysts that futures are "oversold" did little to tip the scales back towards positive momentum. Today's action follows selling late last week due to a paltry export sales report from the USDA. "Friday's sharp CBOT decline was seen as overdone," AgResource said in a note. Adverse weather in Brazil continues to affect crop planting there, with the soybean crop 70% to 75% complete, which is nearly two weeks behind the usual pace, the firm said.


INSIGHT


Following Europe: Wheat also took its cues from the movement in European wheat futures--with French wheat getting beat by cheaper Australian competition for Chinese business. "There was an article saying that the Chinese have delayed several cargos of French wheat from December to March, likely because Australian arrivals will crowd out the French," said Charlie Sernatinger of Marex.

Delayed Results: The USDA said that totals of grains inspected for shipment by the agency for the week ended Nov. 23 mostly declined from this time last year. Corn inspections totaled 406,680 metric tons, soybeans 1.44 million, and wheat 276,585. All three of these figures are down from the previous week's report, and are mostly lower from this time last year--with the exception of corn, which totaled only 311,658 tons through Nov. 24, 2022.


AHEAD


--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--The Federal Reserve Banks will release the Beige Book at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.

--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

--The USDA will release its monthly Agricultural Prices report at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.


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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-27-23 1549ET