Gains in corn, wheat and soybeans on Thursday put the bulls back on track, amid near-term price uptrends in place on the daily bar charts. U.S. Corn Belt weather still favors the bulls. Rainy and stormy conditions are forecast for the U.S. Midwest the rest of this week and into next week. Focus has turned to the June 28 USDA U.S. planted acreage report. That report will be one of the most important grain market reports of the year. Grain analysts are saying it’s wide open on the numbers the Agriculture Department assigns to corn and soybean planted acres. That means price action will likely be subdued next week, ahead of the Friday report. However, next Friday’s price action in the grains is expected to be highly volatile. Late next week is also when the U.S. and Chinese presidents meet to discuss trade. Ideas are also widely mixed on the outcome of that meeting, which also argues for more subdued trade in the grains until late next week. Stay tuned!–Jim