Good afternoon. As has been the case all week, wheat and soybean oil were the leaders at the CBOT on the last trading session before Thanksgiving. Both saw lower price action - wheat on falling cash prices in Argentina, and bean oil on renewed concerns over a likely delay in 45Z renewable fuel tax credit guidance. Meal managed to keep soybeans in the green for most of the day on spread unwinding, while corn futures again chopped around in the middle.

CZ closed at 4.15 3/4, down 4 1/4. CH was unchanged at 4.28. Inside day for CH. SF closed at 9.88 3/4, up 5 1/4. SH was up 3 cents at 9.97. WZ finished at 5.37 3/4, down a penny and 3/4. Products were mixed, December soybean meal closed at 290.50, up $2.40/ton, and December soybean oil closed at 40.75, down 1.84. Outside day higher for meal and a new low close for the current move in bean oil. Livestock markets were mixed, December live cattle closed at 188.00, up $1.10, January feeders closed at 258.77, up 67 cents, and December hogs closed at 82.40, down 70 cents. New highs for the move again in feeders and also the eighth higher close in the last 10 sessions. Outside markets are lower, crude oil futures are down 10-20 cents/bbl, the Dow Jones index is down 130 points, and the US$ index is down 90 points; the $ is nearly 30 points off the lows. The S&P500 is down 25 points and the NASDAQ is down 200 points. Inside day for crude oil and new contract highs for the Dow.

Spreads, especially in corn and wheat, had a fairly wild day of trade on Wednesday. Corn spreads were down 4 and 1/4 to up a penny, and soybean spreads were up 3/4 of a cent to up 4 cents. CZ/CH closed at -12 1/4, down 4 1/4, and SF/SH closed at -8 1/4, up 2 1/4. Low on CZ/CH was -13. Also of note, the WZ/WH wheat spread closed at -10 3/4, up 7 3/4, and made a high at -9 1/4. The Kansas City Dec/Mar spread closed 10 cents weaker at -18 1/4, and the Minneapolis Dec/Mar spread closed at -26 3/4, down 2 3/4; the KC spread traded a 15 and 1/2 cent range today alone, while the Minn. spread traded more than 13 cents off Monday's highs today.

USDA this morning announced daily sales of 132,000 mt's of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2024/25 marketing year.

Trade stayed active through most of the day on Wednesday, though there was again an expected lack of fresh market-moving fundamental news. South American crop sizes will continue to limit the upside in markets over the short term, while war tensions in Ukraine, as well as Trump policy question marks, keep the downside limited. This set-up likely produces rather choppy, range-bound markets into the end of the calendar year. As long as lows hold in the near term, it will take confirmation of record production in Brazil and Argentina to send futures markets lower in January and February. The other factor that will continue to impact markets is changing global currency relations, which are a result of proposed tariffs by the Trump administration. A further strengthening of the US$, and also weakening of other global currencies in relation, will also produce headwinds for the markets.

This morning's EIA weekly ethanol report showed another week of continued good corn demand in the week ending November 22nd, as daily production reached a new marketing year high for now the fifth time in the last six weeks at 1.119 mil bbls; this was up just factionally from last week, but was up more than 9% from the same week last year and was also a new record production level for this particular week. Stocks for the week were seen at 22.869 mil bbls, which like last week was again the highest level since late September; the figure was also up 1.4% from last week, and was up 5.6% from last year. Corn usage in the week was also seen at another marketing year high of 110.6 mil bu's, while cumulative corn usage in the season has increased to 1267.4 bil bu's. On the petroleum side, crude oil stocks dropped 1.844 mil bbls in the week to 428.448 mil bbls, gasoline stocks were up 3.314 mil bbls at 212.241 mil bbls, and distillate stocks were up 416k bbls at 114.717 mil bbls. Implied gasoline demand was seen at 8.506 mil bbls/day, compared to 8.418 mil last week and 8.206 mil last year.

Weather-wise in the US, the eastern Midwest into the northeast looks to see rain/snow through the day on Thursday for Thanksgiving, but once this system passes, things look to be dry for most of the country through the weekend and into the first part of next week. By the end of next week, the northern portion of the Midwest will again see rain/snow possibilities, while areas in the Delta and along the Gulf will see a storm system work through Tuesday/Wednesday. Temperatures will continue dropping across most of the country into Sunday before stabilizing a bit next week; ridging in the west allows temps here to return to above average levels, while the forecast in the east shows temps staying some 5-10 degrees F below normal through the first week of December.

Rainfall in northern Argentina has begun falling over the last 24 hours, and looks to move into southern Brazil over the next day or two; totals through noon on Saturday are expected to reach 0.1-2" generally speaking, with a small area of 4-5" possible. Rains then look to continue for most all of Brazil's growing regions into the first part of next week, while northern Argentina sees a similar forecast. The week-two runs are similar to the past couple days in seeing continued heavy rains in the southern part of Brazil and far northeast Argentina, while the rest of Argentina sees limited moisture. We continue reiterating that weather threats outside of small local areas remain generally non-existent into the first 10 days of December.

As a reminder, there will be no trade at the CBOT tonight, tomorrow, or tomorrow night, with markets re-opening at 8:30am central time on Friday and closing at 12:05pm central time for the weekend. Friday is also the first notice day for December grain futures. Have a happy Thanksgiving holiday!!!