Quick Overview

• S&P put a “negative” outlook on the U.S. AAA credit rating, citing rising budget deficits and debt. The Dow Jones industrial futures sank 200 points within half an hour of the news.
• Russia intends to further lighten its U.S. debt holdings and is looking to  buy gold and increase their holdings in currencies such as the Canadian dollar.
  

• (Freese-Notis) "When it comes to the weather for the second half of April, what we have in store this year for the Nation's midsection is about as bad as one could imagine for fieldwork. Extended periods of dry weather during that time frame are completely out of the question, and even stringing together as little as two straight days of completely dry weather is going to be a real chore."
• France,  China and U.S have very dry conditions -- raising wheat concerns.
• SovEcon, a Russian agriculture research and consulting body, said Russia wouldn't lift its ban on grain exports before July

• (Bloomberg) China’s farmland shrank by 8.33 million hectares (20.6 million acres) in the past 12 years, Premier Wen Jiabao’s top agriculture adviser Chen Xiwen told reporters March 24

• (Dow Jones)--China, the world's second-largest corn consumer, will limit corn consumption in non-feed sectors to ensure supply for animal feed mills and to help control prices, corn traders and local media reports said.