March corn was 1 1/2 cents higher overnight. Crude oil made another minor new low and the dollar was also lower overnight.

Corn traded lower in a narrow range yesterday, closing near the lows of the session. Prices were marginally higher overnight with the March contract trading in an extremely narrow range. Traders and analysts say that there is a standoff between soft demand for corn and a lack of farmer selling at current price levels. Farmers are busy this week trying to wrap up the corn harvest. This may be contributing to the light selling, but some cash sources indicate that farmers are unwilling to sell at current levels and are well positioned to hold over the intermediate term. Traders at the Gulf indicate that export demand remains soft and that US corn is suffering from a competitive price disadvantage to Brazilian corn and feed wheat from the Black Sea. Dry weather in central Argentina continues to stress the developing corn crop and that is also considered supportive by some traders.

Weather conditions remain the same in South America with Brazil seeing generally favorable growing conditions in corn and soybean areas and Argentina still dry, especially in central Argentina. The US is also still expected to be dry through the weekend in most grain areas, but temperatures are expected to be a bit colder than previously forecast into Friday and Saturday in the central and northern Midwest. Snow is still expected in the extreme northern and NE Midwest into the weekend. Rain is expected to move into the SW Plains on Saturday and Sunday with showers pushing through the central Midwest early next week.