Wednesday's Closing Grain and Livestock Futures Prices
Jul. corn closed at $4.74 and 1/2, up 1 cent
Jul. soybeans closed at $15.05 and 1/4, up 35 and 1/2 cents
Jul. soybean meal closed at $498.10, up $11.40
Jul. soybean oil closed at 40.47, up 40 points
Jul. wheat closed at $6.64 and 1/4, down 6 and 1/4 cents
Jun. live cattle closed at $138.27, down 47 cents
Jun. lean hogs closed at $119.92, up $1.32
Jul. crude oil closed at $104.07, up $1.74
Jul. cotton closed at 89.29, up 29 points
Jun. Class III milk closed at $20.23, down 4 cents
Jun. gold closed at $1,288.10, down $6.50
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,537.06, up 158.75 points
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Market News Review
Soybeans were higher on fund and commercial buying. Fundamentally, the near term supply remains tight and demand is strong. However, the market’s technically overbought and there are concerns about sustained demand around current levels. Past that – soybeans continue to watch the corn planting pace. Soybean meal and oil followed beans higher, with meal outgaining oil on product demand expectations.
Corn was mostly firm on spillover from beans and consolidation trade. Crop weather for this week generally looks good around most of the Midwest with warmer conditions in Northern areas. Essentially, corn was just taking the path of least resistance. Ethanol futures were higher. The EIA reports ethanol production for the week ending May 16 averaged 925,000 barrels per day, up 3,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Ethanol stocks were 17.0 million barrels, down 1.8% on the week.
The wheat complex was mixed. Chicago and Kansas City were lower on fund selling, while Minneapolis was steady to firm on the slow spring planting pace. There is a chance for some much needed rain in parts of the Southern Plains. That said – coverage is uncertain and may be limited to pop up storms. Japan is tendering for 97,300 tons of milling wheat from the U.S., Australia, and Canada.
A few bids and some scattered cattle sales developed over parts of the North on Wednesday. DTN reported some steers sold at 234.00, while Iowa trade ranged from 230.00 to 233.00. The higher end of those deals were by regional packers. Most asking prices remain firm around 147.00 to 148.00 in the South and 237.00 plus in the North. The kill was estimated at 117,000 head, even with last week, but 9,000 below last year.
Boxed beef cutout values were higher on moderate demand and light to moderate offerings. Choice boxed beef was up .93 at 231.16, and select was 1.06 higher at 220.09
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 25 lower to 50 points higher. The firm support in the boxed beef values was unable to draw additional support into the live cattle market despite the support from feeder futures. June and August futures backed away from early support and held narrow losses into the close. Noncommercial support in deferred futures helped to sustain overall support. June settled .47 lower at 138.27 and August was down .50 at 139.60.
Feeder contracts settled 15 to 77 points in the black, but prices faded some at midday as it was uncertain just how much staying power the recent buyer support has. Traders looked for additional direction from both the outside markets, and live cattle market through the next couple of days. May was .15 higher at 189.20 and August was .60 higher at 196.52.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Ozarks Regional Stockyards at West Plains, Missouri totaled 3928 head on Wednesday. The bulk of the feeder steers and heifers trended 5.00 higher with yearlings 5.00 to 10.00 higher. Adding in two pot loads of extra fancy 4 to 5 weight Red Angus steers and heifers, created spots of 10.00 to 15.00 higher when they entered the market. Demand was good to very good on a moderate supply of feeder cattle with a heavy supply of yearlings. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 901 pounds brought 178.00 per hundredweight. 518 pound heifers traded at an average of 213.92.
Lean hogs settled unchanged to 165 higher. Strong price support quickly moved back into nearby lean futures contracts with gains of $1.00 per hundredweight or greater holding through the session. June contracts are still not able to gain enough support to move above $120.00 per hundredweight, but the strong support in July and August sustained support above $125.00 per hundredweight. June settled 1.32 higher at 119.92, and July was up 1.65 at 126.82.
There was slow hog market activity with light demand on Wednesday afternoon. Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 1.57 lower at 109.64 weighted average on a carcass basis, the west was down 1.32 at 109.38, and the East was not reported due to confidentiality. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was steady to 1.00 lower from 96.00 to 102.00. Terminal hogs were 2.00 lower to .50 higher from 72.00 to 80.00.
The pork carcass value FOB plant was down 1.79 at 114.92. Bellies were responsible for the losses, down $8.74.
Since recent meat-spread data suggests that retail margins on both beef and pork items in the meat case remain well below longer-term averages, DTN assumes that grocers are not done passing on higher costs to consumers.
The hog slaughter was estimated at 406,000 head, 5,000 less than last week and down 6,000 from last year.
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