Tuesday's Closing Grain and Livestock Futures
Dec. corn closed at $4.41 and 3/4, down 7 and 1/2 cents
Nov. soybeans closed at $12.88 and 3/4, down 7 and 3/4 cents
Oct. soybean meal closed at $428.70, down $5.00
Oct. soybean oil closed at 40.20, up 55 points
Dec. wheat closed at $6.93 and 1/2, down 1 and 1/4 cents
Oct. live cattle closed at $128.27, up 40 cents
Oct. lean hogs closed at $91.22, down 37 cents
Nov. crude oil closed at $103.49, up 46 cents
Dec. cotton closed at 83.69, down 33 points
Oct. Class III milk closed at $18.10, up 5 cents
Oct. gold closed at $1,324.20, down 60 cents
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 14,776.53, down 159.71 points
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Market News and ReCap
Soybeans were lower on fund and technical selling, in addition to spillover from the outside markets. Beans are watching harvest activity and near term weather looks good for most of the major growing areas. The trade’s also watching planting in Brazil, with good rainfall in the south, but more needed further to the north. Soybean meal was down and oil was up on the adjustment of product spreads. According to Reuters, soybean meal prices at the Dalian Commodity Exchange in China hit new record highs on strong demand and a tight supply. Taiwan’s Breakfast Soybean Procurement Association bought 60,000 tons of Brazilian soybeans and Dow Jones Newswires adds buyers from Taiwan may start buying beans in containers instead of bulk cargoes during January as container shipping is cheaper than bulk cargo shipping during that time of year.
Corn was lower on technical and fund selling. The near term weather outlook is fairly dry and generally good for harvest, with no significant, widespread rainfall expected until this weekend for most areas. At this point, corn looks pretty bearish fundamentally, but producers seem reluctant to sell at current price levels and active contracts did hold above support. Ethanol futures were higher.
The wheat complex was mixed, with Chicago down, following corn. Kansas City was higher – recent rainfall in the Plains definitely helps, but more is needed and conditions are expected to be windy. Minneapolis was up on signs of more export demand, including Japan tendering for U.S. milling wheat. Tokyo’s in the market for 31,730 tons of Australian standard white, 31,223 tons Canadian western red spring, 21,609 tons U.S. dark northern spring, 9,830 tons U.S. hard red winter, and 7,500 tons U.S. western white. Russia’s Ag Ministry reports 83% of the expected harvested area has been collected, with wheat at 49.8 million tons, and Kazakhstan’s Ag Ministry adds 90.2% of harvested area is collected there.
Cattle country was quiet on Tuesday afternoon with the buying interest limited to just a few bids at 123.00 in Kansas and Texas. Asking prices are generally 128.00 to 129.00 in the South, and 200.00 to 202.00 in the North. Significant trade volume will generally be delayed until Thursday or Friday.
DTN’s estimate of the kill on Tuesday is 123,000 head, larger than Monday’s slow start but several thousand head below last year. Private sources suggest that the beef trade was steady to firm with light box trade.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 40 points higher to 10 lower. The front month cattle futures held 40 cent gains as traders focused on potential weather related cattle losses through the Dakotas causing some light support through the complex. Overall though very little direction developed across the complex as traders looked for hints of beef value direction through the middle of the month. Deferred futures gave back some previous market support following the pressure in corn prices. October settled .40 higher at 128.27, and December was up .02 at 132.32.
Feeder cattle contracts settled 80 to 90 points higher as strong gains redeveloped in the lightly traded feeder cattle complex. Traders focused less on price moves in the live cattle markets and nearly exclusively on the pressure in corn prices, October settled .80 higher at 164.80 and November was up .85 at 166.32.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Oklahoma National Stockyards on Monday totaled 8931 head. Compared to last week, feeder steer and heifers were called 2.00 to 3.00 higher on a good test. Steer and heifer calves were 6.00 to 8.00 higher on a good test. Feeder steers weighing 601 to 650 pounds traded from 141.00 to 174.00 per hundredweight. Heifers weighing 601 to 650 pounds ranged from a low of 96.00 to a high of 158.50.
Lean hogs settled unchanged to 35 points higher with only October lower. Lack of additional fundamental direction did not put traders on the defensive as some started to focus on potential overbought status of nearby lean hog futures. The lack of fresh news limited buyer activity and trading ranges remained narrow through the close. October settled .37 lower at 91.22, and December was .32 higher at 88.20.
Direct trade hogs are not available due to the government shutdown. At Peoria, Illinois barrows and gilts on a live basis closed steady from 60.00 to 61.00; sows were 1.00 lower from 68.00 to 73.00. Prices were steady at Red Oak, Iowa at 60.00, and Zumbrota, Minnesota was steady at 61.00. Missouri direct base carcass meat price closed steady from 83.00 to 85.00 and Missouri sows on a cash basis traded steady to 4.00 lower from 60.00 to 71.00.
Although the hog slaughter is likely to trail well behind 2012, it is still in the groove to seasonally increase. This week’s kill could easily stretch as high as 2.3 million head, as much as 800,000 more than last week.
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