Tuesday’s Closing Grain and Livestock Futures
Mar. corn closed at $3.90 and 1/4, up 3 and 1/4 cents
Mar. soybeans closed at $9.82, down 9 and 3/4 cents
Mar. soybean meal closed at $326.50, up 30 cents
Mar. soybean oil closed at 32.84, down 55 points
Mar. wheat closed at $5.37, up 4 and 1/4 cents
Feb. live cattle closed at $153.05, down $1.40
Feb. lean hogs closed at $71.77, down $2.72
Feb. crude oil closed at $46.39, down $2.30
Mar. cotton closed at 57.79, down 144 points
Feb. Class III milk closed at $14.45, up 2 cents
Feb. gold closed at $1,294.20, up $17.30
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,515.23, up 3.66 points
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Market News Recap
Soybeans were lower on fund and commercial selling. China canceled on another 174,000 tons of 2014/15 U.S. soybeans, following up on last week’s big cancellation. Also, there’s rain headed for some of the drier portions of northern Brazil. According to AgRural, 1% of Brazil’s soybean crop has been harvested, basically in-line with last year and the average pace. Soybean meal was mostly lower and bean oil was down, with both following beans.
Corn was higher on fund and commercial buying. There was no real fresh supportive news, but contracts saw a solid bounce off of the early lows. After Friday’s finish, that may be a sign that corn has broken out of the recent lower trend. Ethanol futures were higher. China’s National Bureau of Statistics reports 2014 corn production was 216.67 million tons, down a little more than 1% from 2013.
The wheat complex was higher on fund and commercial buying. There’s some rain in the forecast for the southern Plains and fundamentals remain bearish. Still, the trade expects at least some increase in export demand. According to wire services, Russia is considering a more formal grain export ban, but nothing’s been decided. Moscow reportedly has 1.65 million tons of wheat from last marketing year still available for export, but unofficial sales curbs are in place to keep domestic food prices down. Japan is tendering for 142,500 tons of wheat from the U.S., Australia, and Canada.
Cattle country was relatively quiet on Tuesday afternoon, although private sources reported a few scattered bids in Kansas from 158.00 to 159.00. With the sharp losses in futures it’s hard to know where cattle will be priced. There has been some talk in the market of feedlots pricing ready steers and heifers $10.00 to 12.00 over the board. It would seem we are looking at another round of extremely strong basis levels. Exactly how strong probably won’t be determined until the end of the week. The kill totaled 112,000 head, 1,000 more than last week, but 6,000 smaller than a year ago.
Boxed beef cutout values were lower on light demand and light to moderate offerings. Choice beef down 1.18 at 258.24 and select was 1.02 lower at 248.83.
Live cattle contracts settled 132-272 lower on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. The session started with light early gains with traders looking for direction but the market turned bearish as nearby futures turned limit down. By midday the prices were off the day’s lows. The lack of support in the feeder cattle markets following the long weekend seemed to limit expectations of follow through support in the near future. February settled 1.40 lower at 153.05, and April was down 1.87 at 151.07.
Feeder cattle ended 37 points higher to 252 lower. Like the live pit the early gains were short lived. Strong losses were seen in all but the front month January futures. The $12.00 premium in the January over the March contracts created some uncertainty as January contracts move toward irrelevancy. DTN reports the weaker tone across the rest of the cattle complex could lead to additional pressure, and possibly a move below $200.00 per hundredweight before the end of the week. January settled .37 higher at 214.47 and March was down 2.37 at 202.47.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Joplin Regional Stockyards on Monday totaled 11,762 head. Compared to last week, steers weighing less than 700 pounds were steady to 5.00 lower, over 800 pounds 10.00 to 15.00 lower, heifers weighing over 700 pounds 5.00 to 10.00 lower. The demand was moderate to good on a heavy supply. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 725 pounds averaged 220.96 per hundredweight. 599 pound replacement heifers averaged 261.00.
Lean hog contracts settled 212 to 300 points lower. If the general weakness through the lean hog complex and pork values was not enough to add pressure to futures prices on Tuesday, the aggressive losses in the cattle complex added additional softness to the market. February settled 2.72 lower at 71.77, and April was down the 3.00 limit at 74.67.
Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 2.03 lower at 68.73 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was down 1.90 at 68.76, and the East was .45 lower at 69.58. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was steady to 2.00 higher from 62.00 to 67.00. Midwest hogs were steady to 1.00 lower from 44.00 to 50.00.
Pork trading FOB plant closed 1.38 higher at 85.91 with only picnics lower.
Hog slaughter last week totaled 2.276 million head, up 6.4% from the week before but only up 0.6% from the same week last year. So far ready numbers seem to be building slower than the Dec 1 inventory implied.
Hog slaughter was estimated at 434,000 head, 1,000 more than last week and 3,000 greater than last year.
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