By Kirk Maltais

--Wheat for March delivery fell 2.3% to $6.60 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday, in reaction to a new outlook from the International Grains Council showing growing wheat stocks globally in the next marketing year.

--Corn for March delivery fell 0.4% to $5.47 1/2 a bushel.

--Soybeans for March delivery fell 0.2% to $14.04 1/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Future Buildup: Wheat futures on the CBOT led the move down on grains Friday, due in part to Thursday's forecast from the International Grains Council showing expectation of global wheat stocks growing in the next marketing year. "The International Grain Council obviously believes that the global wheat crop is looking better as a whole, as they have increased estimates in the latest update," said Dan Hueber of the Hueber Report. Wheat harvests are now expected to yield 773 million tons of the grain, the IGC says--with stocks rising 2% in 2021/22.

Clouds Roll In: Traders lost their optimistic verve for grains in trading Friday, with futures spending the day lower. "The bull doesn't have any compelling arguments to do so today," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "Stocks are still tight and weather risks remain, as partially outlined below, but that's a longer-term story that will take time to develop." For this session, news spurring buying interest was slim, said Mr. Suderman.

Macro View: Also weighing down grains futures Friday was pressure from macro markets. "The steepening of the U.S. yield curve and fall in macro financial markets is also providing bearish tailwinds," said AgResource. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down over 330 points in trading Friday, with heightened yields sinking tech stocks.

INSIGHTS

Fresh Focus: With the month of February nearing its end, the focus of grains traders going into March is expected to turn to the USDA's Prospective Planting Report, which comes out at the end of March, said Karl Setzer of AgriVisor. The report will supply another view of farmers' planting intentions, following up on the USDA's initial forecasts supplied at its Agricultural Outlook Forum last week.

Back on the Horse: Even with grains futures as a whole down in trading Friday, the correction is expected to be short-lived--at least for corn. "We would eventually like to be sellers of corn, but do not expect the corn market to top out until sometime in the March/April time period," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage. However, some amount of farmer selling--for what old crop stocks they have left--may cause some volatility in corn prices. "As a seller of corn, if you have cash flow needs, obviously these are very good prices and making a few sales at these levels would be a decision that would be hard to argue with," Mr. Pfitzenmaier added.

AHEAD:

--The USDA will release its weekly export inspections report at 11 a.m. ET Monday.

--The USDA will release its monthly grains crushing report at 3 p.m. ET Monday.

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

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-26-21 1508ET