Unless a weak export sales report keeps pressure on corn and soybeans, a slightly higher overnight market could help the CME Group commodities start higher Friday.   

The early calls for the commodities on Friday, December 28, 2012, are mostly higher. Corn is seen opening 1 to 2 cents higher, but very weak export news could send it to lower territory quickly. Soybeans are seen 3 to 5 cents higher, but have the same negative news factor as corn and wheat 4 to 5 cents higher.

In overnight trading, the March corn futures contract traded 1 cent higher at $6.92 per bushel. January soybean futures traded 9 cents higher at $14.28 per bushel, and March wheat traded 4 cents higher at $7.76. For January soybean meal futures, the contract traded 90 cents per short ton higher at $430.70. January soybean oil futures traded 51 cents higher at $48.80. 

The outside markets are not favorable for Friday's grain trade. The real factors driving the calls will be the export sales and overnight markets.

In its report Friday, the USDA Weekly Export Sales data is bearish for the soybean and corn markets, friendly for wheat. Corn sales were estimated at 104,300 vs. the trade's expectations of between 110-300,000 metric tons (mt). For soybeans, weekly sales totaled 87,000 mt vs. the trade's expectations of 400-600,000 mt. Wheat sales equaled 1.01 million mt vs. the trade's expectations of 500-700,000 mt. Soymeal sales were estimated at 124,800 mt vs. the trade's thoughts of 200-300,000 mt.

Discuss the corn, soybean and wheat markets in Marketing Talk.