Grains
Grain markets were able to halt the recent decline with small short covering rally in today’s session as traders looked to square up positions ahead of this week’s USDA data.
Corn
At the close March corn futures were 4 ¼ cents higher to settle at 459 ¼, just a stone’s throw away from unchanged for the week. New crop December corn tacked on 3 ½ cents to settle at 492 ¾. The average analyst estimate for corn production comes in at 15.226 billion bushels, little changed from the December report. Analysts are expecting to see Brazilian corn production at 125.33 million tonnes, down from 129.00 in December’s report. Argentina’s corn production is expected to be little changed from the previous report, with the average estimate at 54.78 million tonnes.
Soybeans
March soybean futures were able to finish the day 3 cents higher to 1248 1/2, which isn’t much on its own, but it was about 15 cents off the early morning low. New crop November futures finished the day 6 ½ cents higher to settle at 1208 ½. As with corn, estimates for US soybean production are little changed from December, with the average estimate coming in at 4.134 billion bushels. Brazilian soybean production will be one of the most closely watched data points on Friday. The average analyst estimate comes in at 156.26 million tonnes, down from the 161.00 we saw in the December report. Despite expectations of lower production numbers, that average analyst is still well above some other notable analysts/firms who peg Brazilian production closer to 150.00 (+/- 2.00).
Wheat
Wheat futures lead the way higher on the day (not including oats which were up 18 ½ cents) with the March contract settling 13 ¾ cents higher to 610. Headlines that Egypt is looking to reenter the market has helped offer support to the market, although the US may not get any of that business.
Livestock
It was another choppy day in the cattle complex which finished the day mixed.
Live Cattle
February live cattle futures settled 82 cents higher to 170.775, near the middle of the last week’s range. April futures, which are starting to gain on February in terms of trade volume, finished the day 57 cents higher to 173.60. This afternoon’s cattle slaughter was estimated at just 94k head, down from 126k last week.
Feeder Cattle
Feeder cattle finished the day mixed with the front two months lower and the next two contract months higher. The most actively traded March contract settled the day 20 cents lower to 224.87. All in all, this is still a rangebound market.
Lean Hogs
On the snout side, it was uniformly higher with the front month February contract settling the ay 1.27 higher to 71.87. Daily slaughter was estimated at 395k head, down nearly 100k from last week.