DES MOINES, Iowa (Agriculture.com)--Large speculators sold off commodity futures positions Thursday, pushing the CME Group farm prices down.

The Dec. corn futures settled 23 1/4 cents lower at $7.01. The Nov. soybean contract closed 24 cents lower at $13.58 3/4. The Dec. wheat futures closed 8 1/2 cents lower at $6.96. The Dec. soymeal futures closed $9.40 per short ton lower at $354.00. The Dec. soyoil futures ended $0.55 lower at $56.55.

In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $0.44 per barrel higher, the dollar is lower and the Dow Jones Industrials are up 171 points.

Jack Scoville, PRICE Futures Group vice-president, says the lower closes were a result of a big spec selling day.  

"The fundamental factors were the lack of freeze damage reported and the bad export sales for wheat and beans. Corn sales were great but the weather was king," Scoville says.  

Scoville adds, "I kind of thing we are getting to the overdone point for the short term.  Markets could bounce back tomorrow even though we are getting into harvest in lots of areas now.  We will see.  At any rate, I don’t think rallies are worth all too much for the next few weeks unless we get some big demand news or something."