NEW YORK- Chicago soybeans and corn futures fell on Friday following a rally a day earlier, pulled down by a sell-off in equities and forecasts of idyllic harvest weather in much of the US farm belt over the weekend.
The most-active Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures were down about 1 percent at $12.68-1/2 a bushel and CBOT corn was 0.7 percent lower at $4.94.
The slide came after a report from the US Department of Labor showing the country added 336,000 jobs in September, compared with forecasts of 170,000, which lifted expectations the US Federal Reserve would further hike interest rates and prompted a drop in US equities markets.
November soybeans rallied in the prior session, closing above $12.80 a bushel for the first time in a week, a level that may have prompted some producers to lock in profits and hedge risk in the midst of the harvest.
“Soybeans are expecting a very big harvest weekend. Sometimes you’ll get some selling prior to what these commercial (producers) will buy,” said Jason Ward, the managing director of Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis.
December corn prices rose to $4.99 a day earlier before retreating, a level they have not seen since August and where they have met repeated resistance. -Reuters
