By Kirk Maltais


-- Wheat for December delivery fell 1% to $9.13 1/2 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, reacting to little fresh news coming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

-- Corn for December delivery rose 0.5% to $6.81 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.8% to $13.76 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Stale News: A lack of fresh developments in the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine allowed wheat futures to fall in trading Monday.

"Wheat took a breather from Friday's rally on intermarket spread rationalization, and lack of hard news out of the Black Sea," says Charlie Sernatinger of ED&F Man Capital in a note.

Wheat futures surged 3% on Friday in reaction to the USDA's surprising quarterly stock and small grains production reports.


Outside Influence: Grain futures were mixed in trading Monday. Traders wondered how much volatile movements in outside markets should be affecting CBOT futures.

"Grains are trading mixed today as the trade debates whether outside market uncertainty should be impacting agricultural markets and if so, by what measure?" Rich Nelson of Allendale Inc. told the WSJ.

Mr. Nelson added that his focus is currently on the crude- oil market, where that continuous contract rose 5.1%.

Oil prices affect margins for renewable fuel production as does the U.S. dollar, which is down 0.3%.


Trans-Pacific Connection: Strength in Asian palm-oil futures provided support for the soy complex on the CBOT Monday, with the most-active CBOT soyoil contract closing up 3.2%. As a result, soybeans were lifted throughout the day.

For palm oil, the strength in prices comes because of expectations of lower stocks amid higher exports, although the drawdown in stocks may soon fade.

"Analysts expect a price decline for cash and futures by the end of the year from growing supplies," said Terry Reilly of Futures International in a note.


INSIGHTS


Lack of Interest: Open interest in agricultural futures fell back in trading over the past week, marking the biggest drop in that value in six weeks, says J.P. Morgan's commodity research team in a note. The firm reports that open interest in agricultural futures dropped $6.2 billion in trading over the past week to a total of $277.7 billion, slimming the gain in open interest over the past month to only $3.1 billion.

Meanwhile, total commodity interest fell by $15.5 billion, to $1.13 trillion. The decline is driven by slides in energy and precious metals.


More Inspections: Export inspections for U.S. row crops rose in the past week, according to USDA data.

In its latest grain export inspections report, the USDA said that corn inspections totaled 661,658 metric tons for the week ended Sept. 29, versus 549,608 tons the previous week.

Soybean inspections totaled 575,220 tons versus 291,413 tons last week, and wheat inspections totaled 667,577 tons versus 589,207 tons previously.

China was the leading destination for U.S. corn, while Algeria, Germany and Italy were leading destinations for U.S. wheat. The Philippines and China were the leading destinations for wheat.


AHEAD


-- The EIA is scheduled to release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

-- Conagra Brands Inc. is due to release its fiscal first- quarter earnings at 7:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-03-22 1519ET