Closing Grain and Livestock Futures Prices.
Mar. corn closed at $4.33 and 1/2, up 6 cents
Mar. soybeans closed at $12.75, up 5 and 3/4 cents
Mar. soybean meal closed at $425.20, up $1.90
Mar. soybean oil closed at 37.07, down 3 points
Mar. wheat closed at $5.53 and 1/2, up 2 cents
Feb. live cattle closed at $142.15, up 7 cents
Feb. lean hogs closed at $86.37, down 15 cents
Mar. crude oil closed at $98.23, up 87 cents
Mar. cotton closed at 86.03, up 48 points
Feb. Class III milk closed at $23.29, up 38 cents
Mar. gold closed at $1,242.40, down $19.80
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 15,848.61, up 109.82 points
Soybeans were higher on fund and technical buying. It was a solid week for export numbers, but they could have been even better as unknown destinations canceled on more than 600,000 tons of U.S. beans. Still, definitely worth noting that the vast majority of what was canceled was switched to other origins. Past that – the trade’s watching development weather and early harvest activity around South America. Soybean meal was up and bean oil was down on the adjustment of product spreads.
Corn was higher on fund and technical buying. Unknown destinations picked up 127,000 tons of old crop U.S. corn, weekly old and new crop sales were over 1.8 million tons, and shipments were solid. That said – there’s a lot of corn available, keeping the fundamentals bearish and limiting rally attempts. Ethanol was higher.
The wheat complex was mostly higher on spillover from corn and beans. Weekly export sales were good, but it was a slow week for the shipments and there was just no real fresh fundamental news. There are some concerns about winterkill, but there’s still a very long way to go for this year’s crop. According to Dow Jones Newswires, Egypt is changing its moisture requirements for wheat imports and that my push France out of Cairo’s list of suppliers.
Not a lot was accomplished in cattle country on Thursday. There were only a few bids left on the table at 234.00 in Nebraska. Neither buyers nor sellers showed much interest in doing business. Packers appear to be on the defensive thanks to eroding beef carcass values. On the other hand feedlot operators continue to price showlists on a firm basis, encouraged by tight fed supplies and recent pattern of cash strength. Asking prices remain generally firm from 148.00 to 150.00 in the South and 240.00 plus in the North. The Thursday slaughter was estimated at 117,000 head, 1,000 more than last week, but 2,000 less than a year ago.
Boxed beef cutout values ended weak to lower on light demand and offerings. Choice boxed beef was down 1.06 at 230.75, and select was .64 lower at 229.79.
Live cattle contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled unchanged to 60 points higher. Traders bided their time waiting for the cash contest to be decided. John Harrington at DTN says neither cattle buyers nor sellers look nervous at this point. The spot February contract was sitting about $5.00 to 6.00 below last week’s feedlot trade. February settled .07 higher at 142.15, and April was unchanged at 140.62.
Feeder cattle ended the session mostly 12 to 52 points in the red pressured by light profit taking and greater strength in the corn market. January expired at noon at 171.67 down .12, March was .52 lower at 168.70, and April ended at 169.10 down .37.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Bassett Livestock Auction at Bassett, Nebraska totaled 4970 head. Compared with last week steers traded steady to as much as 10.00 lower, and due to a limited number of comparable offerings of heifers a trend was not given. Demand was good for all reputation loads of Sandhill offerings with several buyers in the seats. 317 head of feeder steers averaging 667 pounds averaged 192.78 per hundredweight. 402 heifers weighing 669 pounds brought 173.57.
Lean hogs settled 22 points higher to 20 lower. The market was hard to analyze as neither bulls nor bears acted interested in the market. The apathy could partially stem from this week’s weather disruptions and the way they work to temporarily skew the true reality of the fundamentals. February settled .15 lower at 86.37 and April was down .17 at 93.62.
There was moderate hog market activity and good demand on Thursday. Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .38 higher at 80.61 on a carcass basis, the West was up .29 at 80.23, and the East was 1.09 higher at 78.82. The Missouri direct base carcass meat price was steady from 72.00 to 74.00. Terminal hogs closed fully steady from 51.00 to 54.00.
Pork carcass value was 1.62 higher FOB plant at 91.49. The ham and belly primals were significantly higher.
For the week ending January 25, Iowa barrows and gilts averaged 282.9 pounds, .8 pounds lighter than the previous week, but still 7.8 Pounds heavier than 2013.
With the week to date chain speed running well behind last week, hog marketing’s are backing up a bit and could work against country leverage through the balance of the week.
The hog kill was light again on Thursday at an estimated 385,000 head, 48,000 less than last week, and down 35,000 from last year.