FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of
Trade (CBOT) was down 0.5% at $6.26 a bushel, as of 0026
GMT, corn dropped 0.5% at $5.78-3/4 a bushel and soybeans slid quarter-of-a-cent to $14.03-1/2 a bushel.
* Wheat has lost 9.6% in April, the market's biggest monthly
drop since November, corn hit its lowest since July at $5.78 a
bushel and soybeans are down 6.7% this month, the biggest
monthly decline since June.
* Forecasts of rains in drought-hit U.S. Plains are boosting
expectations of plentiful supplies and adding pressure on
Chicago wheat prices.
* The corn market is facing pressure after the U.S.
Department of Agriculture said private exporters cancelled sales
of 233,000 tonnes of U.S. old-crop corn to China, underscoring
concerns that a large Brazilian crop was diverting demand from
the United States.
* Net sales of U.S. corn for shipment in the current and
upcoming marketing years fell to a 15-week low of 400,000 tonnes
in the week ended April 20, USDA data showed.
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday and Treasury
yields resumed their climb as strong earnings helped investors
look past signs of economic weakness. DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0530 France GDP Preliminary QQ Q1
0645 France CPI (EU Norm) Prelim YY April
0645 France Producer Prices YY March
0755 Germany Unemployment Rate, Chg SA April
0800 Germany GDP Flash QQ SA, YY NSA Q1
0900 EU GDP Flash Prelim YY, QQ Q1
1200 Germany CPI Prelim YY April
1200 Germany HICP Prelim YY April
1230 US Consumption, Adjusted MM March
1230 US Core PCE Price Index MM, YY March
1230 US PCE Price Index MM, YY March
1230 US Employment Costs Q1
1400 US U Mich Sentiment Final April
EU finance ministers and heads of central banks meet in
Stockholm during the Swedish presidency of the Council of the
European Union
(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
