November soybeans opened 19 cents lower on the day at 1270 and established an early range of 1269 3/4 to 1328 1/2. The November contract rallied immediately and sharply from the open and moved to substantially higher levels by mid session. Meal gained on oil in the early going. Trading limits are expanded to 350 points in oil. No change in soybeans. Traders said that weather is more of a factor in soybeans this morning than in corn as a number of private crop monitors are indicating that there may be fewer pods set in important growing areas than was indicated by the USDA on last week's S&D Report. This may be due to recent dryness with Midwestern growing areas generally seeing below normal rainfall totals over the past 1-2 weeks. Some pockets are seeing one of the driest Augusts on record. China's NE soybean growing areas on the other hand are expecting beneficial rains in coming days as is the Delta in the US. The Midwest may not see coverage until later this week. Basis levels remained steady this morning at the Gulf amid tight supplies brought on by very light farmer selling. Basis levels were higher yesterday despite the jump in futures. The river system continues to be affected by lower water levels. Barge traffic is restricted to just one direction on the Upper Mississippi in conjunction with dredging.