For the week September corn was up 1 ¼ cents, December corn was unchanged, August soybeans lost ¼, November soybeans fell 8 ¼, August soybean meal was $1.30 higher, August soybean oil plunged 305 points, September soft red winter wheat gained 10, September hard red winter wheat soared 19, September hard red spring wheat tacked on 13 ½ and December cotton was 74 points higher.
Old crop corn futures ended slightly higher for the week after making new contract lows on Monday prior to the USDA Acreage and Quarterly Stocks Report.
Jerry Gulke, president of the Gulke Group, describes this week’s technical performance as bullish.
On a weekly corn continuation chart, Gulke points to a major pre-harvest low forged on August 30, 2024 which was followed by rally up to $5.18 ¾ the week of February 17, 2025. The market retested that same low the week of August 11, 2025 and once again produced a rally that lasted through May 13, 2026 when nearby corn futures topped at $4.78 ½.
The market was pushed to those highs in May following record first quarter corn demand and fund buying triggered by inflationary fears and higher crude oil tied to the Iran war.
Following the May 13 high, Gulke says the market saw massive fund selling and retraced, taking out all the gains made in 2026.Nearby futures finally hit a new low on June 29 at $3.98 1/2.
Tuesday’s USDA Quarterly Stocks Report showed 5.29 billion bu. of corn in storage, which was over 100 million bushels less than the trade expected. Gulke says this caused the market to reverse higher and in the process it filled a chart gap area from the week of January 15, 2025.
Gulke says this bullish chart action confirms for him the low is the corn market.
Marketing Advice
Gulke had lifted his hedges a couple of weeks ago and went into the USDA reports with no risk protection.With corn prices dropping below cost of production he saw little downside to the market and no incentive for farmers to make any sales.
He suggests farmers hold on to inventory in storage because the charts are indicating the market is in the process of recovering.
“If you hear brokers or market commentators urging you to sell every small rally because Brazil is harvesting a large corn crop, the U.S. crop looks good and China may not buy from us, be careful,” Gulke says.
Commercial buyers want your grain, he adds, and they will use whatever incentive they can to get it.
“Right now, there is only about a two-cent carry between fall corn and December corn. If you do not have on-farm storage and an elevator offers just a few cents more while charging storage, shrink and drying costs, that is designed to discourage you from holding corn. The elevator or commercial firm wants to own the grain because it believes it can make more money in the market than by paying you to store it.”
For more information contact Jerry at info@gulkegroup.com.
