July corn traded 3 3/4 cents lower overnight. The dollar was slightly lower overnight.

Corn closed lower on Friday and moved lower again overnight. This came despite somewhat wetter than expected planting conditions over the weekend. Weather forecasts call for additional shower activity in the western Corn Belt today and in the central and eastern Corn Belt tomorrow. Forecasts also call for above normal temperatures in most major growing areas starting on Wednesday. The USDA will issue its Crop Progress Reports this afternoon. Traders are expecting planting progress of 25% of more during the week ending on Sunday. The Secretary of Agriculture and the Chief Economist for the USDA will hold a press conference at 10:00 today to discuss recent trends in world food markets as well as the food/fuel controversy. The Commitments of Traders Report for the week ending May 13 showed that funds were moderate net buyers and small traders were net sellers. Trend following funds bought 7,352 contracts and index funds bought 2,592 contracts. Funds are now net long by over 626,000 contracts. Small traders were net sellers of 3,870 contracts.

Weather was mixed over the weekend with cool temperatures and a mixture of sunny weather and scattered showers, mainly in the central eastern Midwest. The past 24-36 hours saw light to moderate showers across the eastern and northern Midwest with moderate scattered rains moving from the eastern Plains into the western Corn Belt overnight. Forecasts call for rain across the eastern Plains and western Corn Belt today with showers shifting to the central and northern Corn Belt tomorrow. Perhaps the biggest weather story may now be the temperature forecast. Previous expectations of cool weather lasting into June are no longer in effect. Instead, warm air is expected to push into the Plains on Wednesday, which should force cooler air out of all Midwestern growing areas. Temperatures may get very hot in the western Corn Belt where the crop is very recently planted. Above normal rainfall is expected from Indiana westward through the end of May, with above normal rainfall in June expected in about a 200-mile radius around Chicago. No new tenders have been reported.