Thursday's Closing Futures Prices for Grain And Livestock Markets
May corn closed at $5.01 and 1/4, down 1 cent
May soybeans closed at $14.82 and 1/4, down 13 cents
May soybean meal closed at $479.50, down $2.60
May soybean oil closed at 42.50, down 41 points
May wheat closed at $6.62 and 1/4, down 6 and 3/4 cents
Apr. live cattle closed at $144.00, up 25 cents
Apr. lean hogs closed at $125.17, up 15 cents
May crude oil closed at $103.40, down 20 cents
May cotton closed at 89.02, down 142 points
Apr. Class III milk closed at $23.96, down 2 cents
May gold closed at $1,320.10, up $14.60
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,170.22, down 266.96 points
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Market News Recap:
Soybeans were lower on fund and technical selling. Yesterday’s USDA numbers were bullish and so are the fundamentals, but Chinese buyers have reportedly run into credit problems while trying to buy a significant amount of beans. China did buy 4.62 million tons of beans during March 2014, 20.3% more than March 2013, and cumulative purchases for the current marketing year are 15.4 million tons, 33.5% more than this time last year. The trade’s also watching harvest in South America and outside markets were bearish, limiting buying interest. Soybean meal was mixed, adjusting old crop/new crop spreads and bean oil was down on spillover from beans.
Corn was mixed in consolidation trade. There’s rain in the forecast and warmer temperatures, which will help planting. The USDA numbers Wednesday showed better than expected demand and the weekly export numbers were solid, but there is a lot of corn available, keeping buying interest limited. Ethanol was mixed.
The wheat complex was lower on fund and technical selling. Weekly export numbers were bearish with a new marketing year low for old crop and another week with shipments below what’s needed to meet USDA projections. That said – there are a lot of domestic weather concerns around the Plains and quite a bit of political uncertainty in the Black Sea region. In sell-buy-sell trade, Japan bought 119,700 tons of food wheat, 71,800 tons of that from the U.S., the rest from Canada.
Cattle country was relatively quiet on Thursday with the exception of the sale of a rather large string of cattle in Nebraska at 241.00 on a dressed basis by a regional buyer That price would be near the top of last week’s price range. Bids on a live basis are from 146.00 to 147.00. Feedlot operators are asking 150.00 live and 243.00 to 244.00 dressed. The kill totaled 110,000 head, 8,000 smaller than last week, and 14,000 below a year ago.
Boxed beef cutout values were weak to lower on light to moderate demand and offerings. Choice was down .46 at 225.00 and select was .93 lower at 214.30.
Live cattle contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled mostly 7 to 42 points in the red. Traders spent the session looking for additional activity from both the cash markets as well as the movement in the outside markets at the end of the week. April was the only contract higher at 144.00 up .25, and June was down .42 at 135.20.
Feeder cattle ended the session 20 points higher to 60 lower. Sluggish trade in the feeder pit limited additional buying interest despite light pressure in the corn markets. Pressure in the live pit limited any late day support through the nearby contracts. April settled .60 lower at 178.27, and May was down .55 at 179.67.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Huss Platte Valley Auction in Nebraska totaled 3800 head on Wednesday. Compared to two weeks ago, feeder steers and heifers sold unevenly steady. The demand was good from start to finish from a large crowd of buyers. The majority of the sale offerings were small packages with very few load lots in the run. Feeder steers averaging 882 pounds brought 168.07 per hundredweight. 721 pound heifers averaged 173.68.
Lean hogs settled 25 to 115 lower with only April higher. Traders were focused on squaring market positions following the aggressive gains Wednesday, and took protection in case aggressive losses are seen over the near term. April settled .15 higher at 125.17, and June was down .50 at 120.62.
There was slow hog market activity with light demand on Thursday afternoon. Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 3.67 lower with a weighted average of 120.10, the West was down 3.70 at 120.01, and the East closed at 120.54 with no price comparison. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was steady from 116.00 to 117.00. Terminal hogs were fully steady from 84.00 to 98.00.
The pork carcass value FOB plant was down 2.48 at 124.47
The pork carcass value got hit hard again on Thursday, especially pressured by imploding ham value, the ham primal was quoted $8.71 lower. Apparently, Easter ham demand has been pretty much exhausted.
The hog slaughter was estimated at 407,000 head. 2,000 less than last week and 8,000 more than last year.
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