Friday's Closing Grain and Livestock Futures
Dec. corn closed at $4.59, down 7 and 1/4 cents
Nov. soybeans closed at $13.81 and 1/2, down 14 and 1/2 cents
Oct. soybean meal closed at $444.60, down $4.60
Oct. soybean oil closed at 42.34, down 44 points
Dec. wheat closed at $6.41 and 3/4, down 11 and 1/2 cents
Oct. live cattle closed at $125.25, up 42 cents
Oct. lean hogs closed at $90.70, up 50 cents
Oct. crude oil closed at $108.21, down 39 cents
Dec. cotton closed at 84.46, down 29 points
Sep. Class III milk closed at $18.18, up 1 cent
Oct. gold closed at $1,308.40, down $21.90
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 15376.06, up 75.42 points
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Market News and ReCap
Soybeans were lower on profit taking and technical selling. There was not much fresh news to end the week and the trade was continuing to digest Thursday’s USDA numbers. Those numbers were bullish, but buying interest was light ahead of the weekend and there’s some rain in the forecast for key growing areas. September expired sharply higher on the tight near term supply. Soybean meal and oil were lower, following beans.
Corn was lower on fund and technical selling. There’s a chance for rain in some parts of the Cornbelt this weekend and next week, which would help out some of the late planted crop. In any event, early yield numbers have been strong and at this point, the trade does expect a large, if not record, total this year. September expired sharply lower. According to Ukraine’s Ag Ministry, corn exports since the start of the marketing year July 1 are 600,000 tons. Russia’s Ag Ministry states corn harvest for the year to date is 674,800 tons, compared to 1.3 million tons this time last year.
The wheat complex was lower on technical and fund selling. USDA raised the domestic and world ending stocks numbers Thursday and harvest activity both at home and abroad is going well. Winter wheat planting also appears to be going well with recent rainfall in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. New crop European wheat was modestly lower. Japan issued a sell-buy-sell tender for 9,000 tons of food wheat and 3,000 tons of malting barley and India has a total of 100,000 tons of wheat on offer with bids due by October 4. Ukraine’s Ag Ministry reports wheat exports since July 1 are 2.26 million tons, with the total for all grains at 4.61 million tons, up 10.7% from this time last year. According to Russia’s Ag Ministry, 65.2% of all grain is harvested at 68.4 million tons, compared to 60.2 million tons a year ago.
USDA Mandatory reports cattle trading was very limited in Kansas on Friday with a few sales steady with Thursday at 123.00. Trading was light in Nebraska and Iowa on light to moderate demand. A few sales on a dressed basis in Nebraska were steady with the bulk of the sales last week at 194.00. In Iowa a few live sales have traded a 122.50 to 123.00, with scattered dressed deals at 195.00.The weekly cattle slaughter was estimated at 611,000 head, 48,000 more than the previous week, but 39,000 less than last year.
Boxed beef cutout values were weak to lower on light to moderate demand and moderate offerings. Choice boxed beef is down 1.15 at 192.69, and select is .56 lower at 176.68.
Live cattle contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled 10 to 70 points higher as the trade ended the week. Some support came from reports of steady feedlot sales in most of the cattle feeding states. Buying action was checked somewhat by lackluster wholesale beef trade. October was up .42 at 125.25, and December was .52 higher at 129.15.
Feeder cattle settled 27 to 67 points higher with buyers encouraged buy further weakness in the corn market. Additional support came from news that country auctions continue to supply plenty of evidence regarding determined procurement efforts by feedlot managers for yearlings and calves. September settled .27 higher at 157.30 and October was up .67 at 159.27.
Feeder cattle receipts at Missouri Auctions this week totaled 28,929 head, compared to last week’s much lighter offering, calves sold uneven from 2.00 lower to 2.00 higher. Yearlings sold steady to 5.00 higher. Locally many reporters have not had sales for two, or even three weeks in some cases, resulting in local trends falling all over the board. Supply this week was moderate, with many large drafts of yearlings present in the Northern markets which were welcomed with very good demand, even with the uncertainty of this year’s corn harvest. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 673 pounds traded at 163.87 per hundredweight. 671 pound heifers brought 151.79.
Lean hog contracts settled 55 points higher to 25 lower. October and December futures set new contract highs in the early going thanks to inspirational fundamentals. However, profit taking pulled the nearby contracts off the session highs. John Harrington at DTN said it is not surprising that some found it prudent to take money off the table, especially in the face of seasonal bearishness. October settled .50 higher at 90.70, and December was down .02 at 87.25.
Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .88 higher with a weighted average of 95.53 on a carcass basis, the West closed .48 higher at 95.11, and in the East the market was .14 lower at 90.96. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was steady from 82.00 to 83.00. Terminal hogs were steady on a live basis from 59.00 to 64.00.
The pork carcass value FOB plant was up 1.34 at 98.16 on a negotiated basis in the afternoon report.
The cash hog trade has been on fire this week with short-bought packers struggling to get ahead of the curve. Such an aggressive pace of spending suggests market hog numbers may be much smaller than commonly assumed.
The weekly hog slaughter at 2,172,000 head is 202,000 more than last week, but 255,000 less than last year.
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