Grain and Livestock Market were mixed in Tuesdays trade, here’s how things shook out.
Grain Market Recap
Grain markets were mostly lower with the exception of wheat in today’s trade. At the close December corn settled 2 cents lower to 427 ¼. January soybeans fell 11 ¼ cents surrendering the psychological $10 level to settle at 998 ½. And on the wheat side it was the front month December contract that outperformed, settling 2 ½ cents higher to 549 ¾ extending the rally to the third day.
Monday’s weekly export inspections from the USDA, for corn came in at 820,608 metric tons, this was within the range of expectations. Mexico was the primary buyer accounting for nearly half of the total. Soybeans were reported at 2.165million metric tons, that was also within the range of expectations. China was the top destination accounting for 1.39mmt. Wheat inspections were below the low end of expectations at 196k metric tons, Mexico was the primary buyer accounting for 64k MT.
Yesterday’s crop progress report showed winter wheat planting at 94% complete, in line with last year’s pace and just a hair behind the 5-year average. 84% of the crop is emerged with good/excellent conditions coming in at 49%. That’s an improvement of 5% from last week and was 3% better than expected.
Livestock Market Recap
Cattle futures were higher and lean hogs lower in Tuesday’s trade. At the close December futures were 2.47 higher to 186.57, February futures which are now the most active in terms of trade volume tacked on 2.02 to settle at 188. January feeder cattle futures settled 2.50 higher to settle at 252, the highest closing price since July. November feeders expire this week and go off at the index price, which has been cited as the reason for this week’s strong and decisive rally. On the snout side, December lean hogs were 47 cents lower to settle at 79.55. The now more actively traded February contract was 40 cents lower to settle at 82.87.
Cutout values were mixed this morning with choice cuts 3.94 higher to 307.28 and select cuts .69 to 275.45. Monday’s five-area average price for live steers on Friday as 184.79. Monday’s slaughter was reported at 118k head, 9k less from the same day last year but 6k more than last week. Friday’s Commitment of Traders report showed funds were net buyers of about 5.6k futures and options contracts. This extended they weekly buying streak to 8 weeks. Funds are now net long 107,043 contracts. That registers as the largest net long position since July of 2023.
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