By Kirk Maltais

--Corn for December delivery gaining 0.8% to $4.05 1/4 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, rising in tandem with Chinese corn futures amid drought issues there.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.4% to $10.54 1/4 a bushel.

--Wheat for December delivery rose 0.3% to $6.27 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Follow the Leader: U.S. corn futures trading on the CBOT rose Monday, driven in part by an uptick in Chinese corn futures. "China's Dalian corn futures pushed to new record highs with January futures closing to $9.86 per bushel, up 15 cents per bushel," said AgResource. "The ongoing rise in China's corn futures will be a supportive factor for CBOT prices with traders looking for new U.S. buying." The USDA didn't announce any new flash sales to China today, but did confirm a large sale of corn to "unknown destinations." Dry weather concerns have been a factor pushing Chinese prices higher, possibly making buying U.S. corn exports a more attractive option.

Same Story: Russian dryness was still a driver for U.S. wheat futures Monday. At an intraday high of nearly $6.37 per bushel, the most-active wheat contract hit its highest level since Dec. 2014, and grain traders expect it to continue to move higher in the short-term. "Wheat is continuing its impressive move higher, led by Russian dryness," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives. However, he adds, the wheat market may soon find its high. "The market is getting over-heated, and there are some rains in the forecast this week," said Mr. Bergman.

INSIGHTS

Missing the Mark: Export inspections for U.S. wheat were lower than expected this week, according to USDA data -- potentially a signal that wheat futures may curb their upward momentum this week. Export inspections for U.S. wheat for the week ending October 15 totaled only 239,688 metric tons, well below analyst expectations of 400,000 tons to 600,000 tons, said Terry Reilly of Futures International. Indonesia was the leading destination, at 54,606 tons, according to the USDA. Meanwhile, corn and soybean inspections met the high end of analyst expectations at 911,012 tons and 2.17 million tons, respectively.

Siding With Trump: Former vice president Joe Biden has an 8.5-point advantage over the incumbent President Donald Trump, according to polling data from FiveThirtyEight. Even so, farmers are increasingly aligning with Trump ahead of the election next month. A September poll by Farm Futures found 75% of farmers surveyed in July planned to vote for Mr. Trump, compared with 72.6% ahead of the 2016 election. Broader rural communities, too, lean toward Mr. Trump: A September poll of rural voters by Zogby Analytics and agriculture-industry publication Progressive Farmer found 49.5% backed Mr. Trump and 32% backed former Vice President Joe Biden; about 29% of respondents were farmers.

AHEAD:

--The EIA releases its weekly update on ethanol production and inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--Ethanol producer and oil refiner Valero Energy Corp. will release its third-quarter earnings report before the stock market opens on Thursday.

--The USDA will release its latest weekly export sales numbers at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

--The USDA will release its monthly cold storage report at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.

--The USDA will release its monthly livestock slaughter report at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.

Jacob Bunge contributed to this article.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-19-20 1545ET