* CBOT March corn closed up 4-3/4 cents at $3.75-1/2 per bushel on Thursday.
* Bargain buying and short-covering boosted the CBOT's most-active corn futures contract early in the day Thursday, traders said, after the contract sank to its lowest since Nov. 28 on Wednesday.
* Thursday's technical bounce in wheat also helped soybean and corn futures gain ground.
* The United States and China have started to outline commitments in principle on the stickiest issues in their trade dispute, marking the most significant progress yet toward ending a seven-month trade war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
* S&P Global Platts said on Thursday that it is proposing changes to its Chicago ethanol price assessment methodology, used broadly as a benchmark for supply deals around the country, after receiving feedback from traders.
* US farmers will plant 92.0 million acres of corn this spring, up from 89.1 million last year, the US Department of Agriculture projected on Thursday.
* A Reuters poll of analysts estimated that corn plantings would rise to 91.5 million acres.
* Consultancy APK-Inform said Wednesday that it had increased its forecasts for Ukraine's corn exports in the 2018/19 July-June season to 26.2 million tonnes of corn, up from the previous month's forecast of 25.75 million tonnes.
* US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Thursday that he hopes the United States will ratify the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal known as USMCA by summer, after Congress has a chance to understand the accord's provisions.