That’s a Wrap!

This week’s trade is officially in the books and it left a few markets at some pivotal spots as we head into next week’s trade.  

Grains

Today was May grain options expiration which means first notice day is next week for May futures, pushing the bulk of the trade volume into the July contracts.  Options expiration may have played a role in today’s choppy futures trade. 

At the close July corn futures were 2 cents lower to settle at 450, for the week that was still 7 cents higher.  the new crop December contract settled 2 ¾ cents lower to 473 ½.  July soybean futures settled 2 ½ cents lower to 1177 ½, trimming gains to the week to 11 ½ cents.  The new crop November contract settled just ¾ of a cent lower to 1174 ¾.  Wheat was the biggest gainer on the week, tacking on another 1 ¾ cents today with July futures settling at 622 ¼, that was 55 ½ cents higher for the week.

Yesterday’s weekly export sales report was impressive for corn, coming in at 1.3 million metric tons, this was up noticeably from the previous week and up 74% from the prior 4 week average.  Mexico was the primary buyer accounting for about 391k metric tons, followed by South Korea and Japan

As planting in the US continues to pick up steam, weather will be of growing importance.  Planting progress will be out Monday afternoon and in a few weeks we will start getting weekly updates on crop conditions. 

Livestock

Cattle futures had a strong finish to the week while lean hogs continued to slide lower.  At the close June live cattle futures were 77 cents higher to settle at 178.57, extending gains for the week to $1.90.  August feeder cattle tacked on 2.25 to settle at 260.55, that was an astounding $7 and 5 cents higher for the week.  On the snout side, it was a different story.  The most actively traded June contract settled 2.52 lower to 102.475, putting futures lower on the week. 

This morning’s wholesale boxed beef report was mixed with choice cuts $1.50 higher to 298.42 while select cuts dropped 1.19 to 288.47.  Yesterday’s daily livestock summary from the USDA showed the 5-area average price for live steers at 181.94, this is softer than what we’ve seen in recent reports.  Daily slaughter was reported at 125k head, that puts the week to date total at 488 k head, inline with last week’s pace but about 11k less than the same period last year. 

Yesterday’s weekly export sales report showed net sales of beef at 15,200 metric tons, down 14% from the previous week and 3% from the prior 4-week average.  China was the primary buyer accounting for 4,600 metric tons followed by Japan, Canada, and South Korea.