Thursday's Closing Grain and Livestock Futures Prices
Jul. corn closed at $4.76 and 3/4, up 2 and 1/4 cents
Jul. soybeans closed at $15.18 and 3/4, up 13 and 1/2 cents
Jul. soybean meal closed at $501.50, up $3.40
Jul. soybean oil closed at 40.86, up 39 points
Jul. wheat closed at $6.59 and 1/4, down 5 cents
Jun. live cattle closed at $137.60, down 67 cents
Jun. lean hogs closed at $117.60, down $2.32
Jul. crude oil closed at $103.74, down 33 cents
Jul. cotton closed at 87.78, down 151 points
Jun. Class III milk closed at $20.98, up 75 cents
Jun. gold closed at $1,295.00, up $6.90
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,543.08, up 10.02 points
For more prices and charts visit http://www.farms.com/markets
Market News Review
Soybeans were higher on fund and commercial buying. Contracts continue to trade around all-time highs thanks to the tight supply and continued strong demand. China bought 120,000 tons of U.S. new crop beans and the weekly numbers were bullish. Soybean meal and oil followed beans higher. Several shipments of soybeans are headed to the U.S. from Brazil, mostly towards the East Coast. Reuters reports India’s farmers could plant a record amount of soybeans this year, encouraged by the current high prices.
Corn was modestly higher on fund and commercial buying, along with spillover from beans. Weekly export sales were good, but it was another slow week for the shipments. There’s some rain in the Western Cornbelt, but 5-day outlooks are mostly dry. There are still some planting delays in the Northern Cornbelt. Ethanol futures were higher.
The wheat complex was lower on fund and technical selling. There’s rain in the forecast for the Southern Plains, which will help in some areas, but it’ll be too late in other portions. Export numbers were bearish with the current marketing year nearly over. According to Reuters, China has raised its state purchase price for wheat by 5.4% to $380 per ton. Japan bought 48,500 tons of U.S. milling wheat, along with 23,400 tons of milling wheat from Canada and 25,400 tons from Australia. Also, Iraq purchased 150,000 tons of Russian wheat and Jordan picked up 50,000 tons of optional origin wheat.
USDA Mandatory reported a limited cattle trade in the Texas Panhandle with a few live sales at 144.00. Trading was light to moderate in Kansas on light demand. Compared to last week, live sales were 1.00 lower at 144.00. Trading was light in Nebraska with limited trade at 232.00. Nebraska traded about 12,000 head on Wednesday with live sales at 146.00 to 146.50, and dressed sales from 232.00 to 234.00. Trading was very light in Iowa with a few dressed sales at 234.00. The kill was estimated at 117,000 head, 1,000 less than last week and down 7,000 from last year.
Boxed beef cutout values were firm to higher on moderate demand and light to moderate offerings. Choice beef was up .63 at 231.79, and select was 1.07 higher at 221.16.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 22 to 95 points lower. The initial support in futures early Thursday quickly eroded as traders prepared for the long weekend. Trade through the end of the week is expected to be even more lethargic than seen on Thursday. Position squaring through the end of the week before the holiday weekend is expected to be the main order of business through the entire livestock sector. June cattle settled .67 lower at 137.60, and August was down .95 at 138.65.
Feeder cattle settled 12 to 147 points lower as traders aggressively started squaring positions. This led to all but lightly trade May futures holding triple digit losses through the close. This is not likely to significantly impact the overall direction of the long term trends, as markets typically see short term corrections before a holiday break. May settled .12 lower at 189.07, and August was down 1.15 at 195.37.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Hub City Livestock Auction at Aberdeen, SD totaled 3860 head on Wednesday. Compared to last week’s lighter offering, steers traded 2.00 to 6.00 higher with instances of 12.00 higher on 650 to 7 weights. Heifers traded steady with a mostly higher undertone. Some weights were too lightly test last week for a price comparison. There was good to very good demand on the offering of good cattle. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 828 pounds brought 192.08 per hundredweight. 816 pound replacement heifers averaged 187.21.
Lean hog contracts settled 22 to 232 points lower as traders stated backing away from the aggressive price support seen at midweek. Pre-holiday position squaring was the main item of business in the lean pit as it was in cattle futures. June settled 2.32 lower at 117.60, and July was down 1.50 at 125.32.
Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 1.23 lower at 108.37 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was down 1.09 at 108.25, and the East was not reported due to confidentiality. Nationally the market was down 1.18 at 106.78. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was steady to 2.00 lower from 96.00 to 100.00. Barrows and gilts at Midwest markets were fully steady from 72.00 to 80.00.
The pork carcass value was 1.14 lower at 113.78 FOB plant with only the belly primals slightly higher.
Iowa barrows and gilts averaged 287.5 pounds last week, 0.9 pounds greater than the prior week and 10.9 pounds heavier than 2013.
Thursday’s hog slaughter was estimated at 375,000 head, 38,000 less than last week and down 43,000 from last year.
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