Looking to the Futures

Wheat and corn futures both finished higher for Tuesday's session but have traded lower overnight with March contracts of Wheat futures (/ZWH26) trading lower 1 ¾ cents from the prior close of 541 to 539.25 and March Corn futures (/ZCH26) are trading 3 cents lower from the prior close of 450 to 447 cents per bushel (as of 8:15 A.M. ET).  Corn and wheat both faced pressure on worries in the Black Sea region following threats from Russia to cut off Ukraine from the sea if their attacks on Russian linked vessels continue. The USDA says corn inspections during the week ending November 27th topped a year ago by a substantial margin, reflecting the strong global demand for U.S. corn. Corn inspections at 1.42 MMT were above the top end of expectations and wheat inspections 385,000 metric tons. Traders will keep on the lookout for more supply and demand figures from the USDA which are set to be delivered December 9th.
 

January Soybean futures (/ZSF26) were the outlier Tuesday finishing lower Tuesday with a price of 1124.75. Soybean contracts were up for the majority of the day Tuesday but faded into the end of the session after a story from Bloomberg indicated that China would meet the agreed to purchase 12 million metric tons (MMT) by the end of the year and 25 MMT over the next three years. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, Chinese importers booked nearly 2 MMT of U.S. soybeans last month for shipment in the 2025-2026 marketing year that ends August 2026. Traders will continue to monitor for any development regarding exports of soybeans to China while keeping an eye on Brazil, which is expected to harvest it's largest-ever soybean crop early in 2026, pending dry weather conditions in Southern areas. Last month's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report indicated ample U.S. supply of soybeans and strong export inspection data suggests demand might be higher than previous estimates. Which is welcome news to farmers already facing tight profit margins for 2025. 

Corn futures (/ZC) have bounced higher from the August 12th low of 392. March contracts over the last month have rebounded sharply from support along the 50-day simple moving average (SMA – green line) on November 21st. The 9-day (SMA – white dots) and 21-day exponential moving average (EMA) show a strong trend since prices made a gap up November 24th. Traders may interpret prices to be consolidating and possibly forming a bull flag pattern. Corn prices are still down 2.72% for the year but show signs of strengthening toward the flat level. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) currently is showing increasing buying pressure but has not quite reached the 70-RSI level that is commonly interpreted to be an oversold threshold.

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New futures products are available to trade with a futures-approved account on all thinkorswim platforms: 

• Ripple (/XRP)
• Micro Ripple (/MXP)
• Micro Corn (/MZC)
• Micro Wheat (/MZW)
• Micro Soybean (/MZS)
• Micro Soybean Oil Futures (/MZL)
• Micro Soybean Meal Futures (/MZM)
• 1 OZ Gold (/1OZ)
• Solana (/SOL)
• Micro Solana (/MSL)

Visit the Schwab.com Futures Markets page to explore the wide variety of futures contracts available for trading through Charles Schwab Futures and Forex LLC.