CHICAGO, Illinois (Agriculture.com)--A strengthening U.S. Dollar is pulling the CME Group grain markets down Thursday.

At the open, the March corn futures are 2 1/2 cents lower at $6.66 3/4. The March soybean contract opened steady at $14.44.  The March wheat futures opened 13 3/4 cents lower at $8.49 1/2. March soybean meal futures opened $0.10 lower per short ton at $386.80. The March soyoil futures opened $0.02 higher at $59.27.

In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $0.58 per barrel lower, the dollar is higher, and the Dow Jones Industrials are down 26 points.

The stronger dollar is trumping the friendly Export Sales Report Thursday, analysts say.