Below are estimates for some of the “big-ticket” items in Thursday’s WASDE report.
Grain Market Recap
In the early morning trade, it looked as though things could turn south quickly, but grain markets, particularly corn and beans, were able to find their footing following the 8:30 open.
At the close March corn futures were unchanged at 442 ¾. New crop December futures gained a penny to settle at 477 ¾. The velocity of the selling pressure has slowed, which could indicate an area of interest for buying activity. Mexico was in the market with a flash sale reported this morning for 155,000 metric tons of corn, or about 6.1 million bushels. Weekly export inspections were reported at 624,295 metric tons. This was down from 926k last week, but up from 494k last year.
Soybeans were the most impressive of the grains in today’s trade, marking a low at the 8:30 open and closing at the highs of the session. Generally, that would lend a hand to some follow-through buying, but Bulls are likely hesitant to trust today’s reversal as we’ve seen recent instances where the market fell flat following price action like we saw today. At the close March soybean futures were 7 ¾ cents higher to settle at 1196 1/4, about 17 cents off the early morning low. New crop November soybeans settled the day 5 ¾ cents higher to 1176 ¾. Weekly export inspections were reported at 1,426,472 MT, up from 913k last week but down from 1.8mmt last year.
Wheat futures were the weak link today with the March contract settling 9 ½ cents lower to 590 1/4. The US Dollar continued to surge higher in today’s trade, reaching levels not seen since the middle of November, this was likely an added headwind to the market. Weekly export inspections were reported at 266,269 MT. Down from 284k last week and 591k last year.
Livestock Market Recap
Livestock futures were under pressure in today’s trade on what was largely presumed to be profit-taking following nice gains in cattle and hogs last week.
April live cattle futures finished the day 1.40 lower to settle at 182.35. This was enough to erase all of Friday’s gains and eat into about half of last Thursday’s rally. March feeder cattle futures finished the day 2.05 lower to settle at 242.75. As with live cattle, this was just enough to erase about half of Thursday’s leg higher.
On the snout side, the most actively traded April contract settled the day 1.62 lower to 82.20. That brough prices back the secondary breakout point at the end of January.