Wheat futures dip nearly 1% as dollar inches up

Wheat futures fell nearly one percent as the dollar index settled higher, following a basket of data from the US, the world's second largest wheat exporter. 

As of 08:24 GMT, wheat futures due on March 15 fell 0.59% to $4.2275 from the opening of $4.2525, while the dollar index rose 0.09% to 90.58 from the opening of 90.50. 

The University of Michigan released its Consumer Sentiment survey for January, showing a dip to 94.4 from December's 95.9, missing expectations of 97.0. 

The economic conditions gauge in the same survey fell as well to 109.2 from 113.8 in December, while economic expectations rose to 84.8 from 84.3. One-year inflation outlook rose to 2.8% from 2.7%, while five-year outlook rose to 2.5% from 2.4%. 

Now investors look forward to a voting session in the Senate on a bill to temporarily fund the government by the Republican Party to avoid a shutdown, after the House of Representatives passed it by a 230-197 margin.  

The US Department of Agriculture released its monthly report on wheat inventories, expecting for them to reach 959 million bushels in the marketing year ending May 31, while forecasting the harvesting of 31.3 million acres of winter wheat, with the inventory projection up 29 million bushels from previous forecasts. 

US President Donald Trump spoke about the agriculture law and the NAFTA trade deal and other issues to that pertain to grain production during a speech today, expressing his support for a law to includes insuring harvests and pointing to the recent Republican-passed tax reform law as a great source of tax cuts for farmers.