Wednesday's Closing Futures Prices for Grain And Livestock Markets
May corn closed at $5.02 and 1/4, down 4 and 3/4 cents
May soybeans closed at $14.95 and 1/4, up 12 and 3/4 cents
May soybean meal closed at $482.10, up $4.00
May soybean oil closed at 42.91, up 80 points
May wheat closed at $6.69, down 12 cents
Apr. live cattle closed at $143.75, up 42 cents
Apr. lean hogs closed at $125.02, up $1.72
May crude oil closed at $103.60, up $1.04
May cotton closed at 90.44, down 135 points
Apr. Class III milk closed at $23.98, down 4 cents
May gold closed at $1,305.50, down $3.20
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,437.18, up 181.04 points
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Market News Recap:
Soybeans were higher on fund and commercial buying following a bullish round of supply and demand numbers. U.S. ending stocks were smaller than expected at 135 million bushels. USDA also lowered production and exports for Brazil. With this round of USDA numbers out of the way, the trade will go back to watching the export market and harvest conditions around South America. Soybean meal and oil were higher on spillover from beans.
Corn was lower on fund and technical selling. Ending stocks came out at 1.3 billion bushels with an increase in exports. However, that’s still a lot of corn and planting conditions generally look good. Ethanol was mostly higher. According to the EIA, ethanol production for the week ending April 4 was 896,000 barrels per day, 26,000 barrels per day less than the week before, with stocks up 3.4%.
The wheat complex was lower on fund and commercial selling. U.S. ending stocks were up on the month at 583 million bushels and the world number was also increased. As much as anything, the report just confirmed the bearish fundamentals. According to Russia’s Ag Ministry, spring grain planting is at 4.2%, ahead of last year’s pace. Japan bought 26,000 tons of feed wheat in sell-buy-sell trade.
Cattle country was pretty much at a standstill on Wednesday with just a few scattered bids reported at 146.00 to 148.00 live and 236.00 on a dressed basis. Those bids are several dollars lower than the current asking prices of 150.00 and 244.00 plus. It looks like another week where significant trade will not develop until late in the week. The cattle slaughter was estimated at 117,000 head, the same as last week, but 5,000 less than a year ago.
Boxed beef cutout values were lower on light to moderate demand and moderate to heavy offerings. Choice beef was down 1.53 at 225.46 and select was 1.74 lower at 215.23.
Live cattle contracts settled unchanged to 100 points higher on Wednesday after being pressured following the lack of support in the boxed beef prices. There continues to be concern in the market about post summer beef demand at the current price levels. The turnaround and limit gains in the lean hog pit led to higher prices in the live cattle futures in the closing hours. April settled .42 higher at 143.75, and June was up .35 at 135.62.
Feeder cattle contracts ended the session 57 to 135 higher. Gains in the corn market immediately following the USDA crop report was unable to significantly impact the buyer support in the nearby feeder cattle contracts. Traders focused on the firm support in live cattle futures and expectation that additional buyer support may develop through the end of the week. April settled .57 higher at 178.87 and May was up 1.35 at 180.22.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Ozarks Regional Stockyards at West Plains, MO totaled 1774 head on Tuesday. Compared to last week the bulk of the feeder steers and heifers traded steady to 3.00 higher. Yearling steers and heifers’ were not well tested. Demand was good on a light supply. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 527 pounds brought 223.52 per hundredweight. 529 pound heifers averaged 195.16.
Lean hogs settled 35 to 300 points higher as aggressive gains redeveloped as traders appeared to be aggressively countering any liquidation seen in Tuesday’s session. The limit gains in some contracts helped to draw additional buyer activity into the market. For now there is little to no new information available about market supply, but this is not stopping trade activity from gyrating higher and lower in a wide range over the last week. April settled 1.72 higher at 125.02, May was up the 3.00 limit at 121.12, and June was also limit higher at 121.75.
Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .97 higher at 124.25 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was up 1.07 at 124.15, and Eastern hogs were down 1.19 at 121.74. Missouri direct base carcass meat price closed steady to 2.00 lower from 116.00 to 117.00. Hogs at country markets were steady to 2.00 lower from 84.00 to 97.00 on a live basis.
The pork cutout value was down 2.89 at 126.95 FOB plant. Bellies and hams were sharply lower.
The average weight of barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade last week was 285.5 pounds, .5 pounds heavier than the previous week and up 8.3 pounds from the same period last year. The head count was 377,000 head, down 7,000 from the previous week, and 29,000 head fewer than 2013.
Wednesday’s hog kill at 411,000 head is 1,000 more than last week and 12,000 head greater than last year.
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