Planting in spring on field with corn stalksThursday’s grain trade started out with expanded trading limits of 40 cents/bushel for corn and $1.05/bushel for soybeans after trading closed Wednesday limit-up in both pits based on Wednesday’s sharply bullish Prospective Plantings data. The numbers — 91.1 million acres for corn and 87.6 million acres for soybeans — were well below what the trade expected, and given the tight grain stocks situation worldwide right now, they ignited a major market rally. Though wheat stocks and acreage data were less bullish, prices followed corn and soybeans higher, as is typically the case with sharp, sudden market swings. The corn planting intentions number was less than 1% higher than a year ago while stocks were seen 3% lower than the same time in 2020. Notably, farmers in Iowa and Illinois told USDA they plan to plant 3% and 3.5% fewer corn acres than in 2020, though on-farm corn stocks were pegged down 9% lower nationwide amid record-high corn export demand. See more from Wednesday’s big USDA data.