The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

A cross the US and now into Canada, combines are be- ing air-blown off and carefully parked, to await win- ter overhaul and prep for yet another harvest season. Wheat producers have their calculators warmed up and have begun to sell off or ship...

Judging the wheat market, or any active market, is a continuous process. Those engaged in such a risky busi- ness know that guessing right about the future price is the Holy Grail of research. Of course there is a multi-billion dollar industry built... Full story

I f we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it. - Abraham Lincoln, June 16, 1858 To ignore a trend is to step into the path of a stampeding herd of steamrollers. The only prac...

The term "symmetry" suggests balanced proportions, or the beauty of form arising from balanced proportions, according to Merriam-Webster. There are other, more strict interpretations, but this idea fits what is happening in the wheat market right... Full story

When seasonal lows are expected, when the trend has been flat-to-downward for a year and winter wheat harvest in the US is effectively complete, these are the times that try men's patience (with apologies to both Thomas Paine and the women whose pa-...

There are no looming shadows in the northern hemisphere corn and soybean production areas. Plenty of worries, with some small zones seeing drought, but nothing strong enough to move the markets. Crop condition reports from the largest 18 producing... Full story

I n the eight to nine trading sessions since July 11, Chicago wheat futures have declined about 40 cents per bushel, pushing down to new lows last seen more than a year ago. Last year from mid-June to late July, triggered by an ex- tremely hot and... Full story

The wheat market knows it is past mid-harvest and that yields in the US have been better than expected so far. The idea that the crop in the US is expected to be smaller than "normal" has been built-in, adjusted and displayed for weeks. Seasonal... Full story

Better than expected bushel-per-acre yields are being reported for the US wheat harvest, as of this week. And harvest is very close to halfway completed in the US. The USDA says the 18 states that represent nearly 90% of the wheat produced in this...

Sometimes great trading wisdom can be found in old aphorisms or sayings. When asked whether it is better to be smart or lucky, one famous trader is said to have responded: "Some people are really lucky, and they are born smart, others are even... Full story

New four-week low prices printed at all three major wheat futures exchanges Monday, but there was little pressure to follow through. Tuesday allowed a little bounce back up with no major news influence to account for it. The wheat market shadow is...

Corn supply: highest expected global ending stocks in the last eight years - negative. Soybean supply: largest global ending stocks of last seven years - negative. Wheat production: below-trend production in the US, but expanding production outside... Full story

Market disruption? The overseas buyers of Pacific Northwest origin white wheat – Japan in particular – have suspended procurement. This interruption in market flow is due to the discovery of a patch of wheat in Oregon apparently linked to Mon... Full story

A s trade decision-makers, human beings are not gener- ally wired to be patient when a market (or anything else) takes longer than 60 to 90 days to move. The Chicago wheat July (new crop) futures contract has not trend- ed out of an 82-cent band... Full story

The wheat market's price behavior over the last week has become cautious. The bears, that snarling, hairy group of negative-biased sellers, have become less willing to extend their positions, even as the bulls, like Fer- dinand, are sitting just quie...

I n 1972, 41 years ago, the front month futures traded in Chicago wheat reached a high of $2.73 per bushel, considered then an extremely high price. The low that year had been $1.41. The lid finally came off the next year when the then USSR kicked... Full story

Wheat Outright Trading Rule #1: Always know the trend. WTR Rule #2: Hold or establish no posi- tion against the trend. WTR Rule #3: If no trend is identified, wait. The above rules apply to identified trends; that is, trends that a given trader has... Full story

A s the old screen door slaps shut and the grain markets step off the porch ready to go to work, the jacket collar is turned up against the chilly wet wind. Snow is in the forecast for some plains states and rain is slowing down the corn planters...

I n the 17 trading sessions since the USDA's last Quarterly Stocks Report on March 28, after which wheat prices in Chicago dropped 45 cents like a stone, the price of wheat has tried very hard to rally. Every day the market has searched for scraps... Full story

The spring winds that are blowing across the US Mid- western wheat belt are still cold, but they don't quite have the winter teeth that can eat little wheat plants the way they did last week. Overall US Spring wheat planting progress is nil in North... Full story

Wheat chart measurements allow an upside target of between $7.50 and $7.80 per bushel over the next month or so in Chicago July (new crop) futures, although there are no currently visible fundamental factors that show the potential for much more...

A nyone hoping last week for lower wheat prices re- ceived a nice gift in the form of a two-day, 70 cent de- cline in Chicago May futures across the Good Friday long weekend. Portland white wheat traders responded with a 50-cent drop in the same time... Full story

A s it is with many things these days, all of the markets - wheat, oil, stocks, metals and weather - are hyper- conscious of the effect of government activities. Some more than others, but wheat has always had a particular fond- ness for USDA...

The wheat futures market as an entity exists to serve one ultimate purpose: to constantly re-discover the balancing point between real supply and demand going forward - that point being the daily/hourly/tick-by-tick price. After all the noise and...