DTN Early Word Grains         03/18 05:27
   Mixed Trade as Traders Focus on Record Fund Positions

   May corn is up 1/4 cents per bushel, May soybeans are down 3 cents, and May
K.C. wheat is down 3 1/2 cents.

By Tregg Cronin
DTN Contributing Analyst

6:00 a.m. CME Globex:   May corn is up 1/4 cents per bushel, May soybeans are
down 3 cents, and May K.C. wheat is down 3 1/2 cents.

CME Globex Recap:   Global equities are higher Monday morning, led by China,
which saw the CSI 300 hit 10-month highs overnight. Investors will be watching
this week's Federal Reserve meeting as well as OPEC's Monitoring Committee
meeting in Azerbaijan. On the trade front, Chinese President Xi will be
visiting Italy Thursday to sign a framework deal with any comments related to
trade with the U.S. being scrutinized closely. Grains are mixed to weaker
Monday as bulls want to focus on market structure with a heavily short managed
fund sector while bears still hold the technical advantage until there is
additional price strength. There are 10 sessions until the Prospective
Plantings report, which will set the price tone into spring.

OUTSIDE MARKETS:   Previous closes on Friday showed the Dow Jones Industrial
Average up 138.93 at 25,848.87 and the S&P 500 up 14.00 at 2,808.48 while the
10-year Treasury yield ended at 2.593%. Early Monday, the June DJIA futures are
down 54 points. Asian markets are higher with Japan's Nikkei 225 up 133.65
(0.62%) and China's Shanghai Composite up 74.67 points (2.47%). European
markets are higher with London's FTSE 100 up 43.82 points (0.61%), Germany's
DAX down 3.78 points (-0.03%) and France's CAC 40 up 5.37 points (0.1%). The
March euro is up 0.002 at 1.130 and the March U.S. dollar index is down 0.090
at 96.500.  The June 30-year T-Bond is up 3/32nds, while April gold is up $1.70
at $1,304.60 and April crude oil is down $0.40 at $58.12. Soybeans on China's
Dalian Exchange were up 0.12% while soybean meal was down 0.23%.