By: NATHAN STUEDLE
St. Joseph Post
GRAINS:
July corn closed down 3 1/4 cents and December corn was up 1 cent. July soybeans closed up 5 3/4 cents and November soybeans were up 5 3/4 cents. July KC wheat closed down 2 cents, July Chicago wheat was up 1/4 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was down 1 1/2 cents.
Row-crop markets continued to chop without much convincing direction as traders are expressing uncertainty on where to place price bets moving forward ahead of the spring data drop from the USDA on May 12. Meanwhile, equity markets continue to press higher, with the S&P500 officially closing the gap left by the April 2 reciprocal tariff announcement. Despite a hazy GDP reading Thursday, a look at the data showed reasons for optimism, particularly the surge in consumer spending. The U.S. dollar is breaking to the upside on Thursday, trading to its highest level since April 11, which weighed negatively on ag markets for Thursday. Crude oil futures featured a strong reversal action for Thursday, which aided soybean oil prices in a recovery day, which in turn lent strength to soybean futures.
LIVESTOCK:
For the bulk of the session the live cattle contracts traded mostly lower amid the light cash trade that took place late Wednesday afternoon, where prices traded anywhere from $5.00 to $8.00 higher. If the futures complex was this blind to the cash cattle market's rally at any other point in time, cattlemen would want to stomp around and throw their hands up in the air. But when you look at the futures complex and thoroughly observe the faithful rally that the market has successfully supported since early April, one can have more grace with traders' technical standstill. After rallying to new contract highs earlier this week traders seem to be hitting the pause button letting the futures contracts trade merely sideways. Fundamental support has been ample already this week, and managed to help the nearby contracts finish higher and the back of the board softly lower.
The feeder cattle complex was feeling the same technical pressure the live cattle contracts were -- as all its contracts traded lower as well, save the spot May contract, as the market seems to be showing that it's finding some technical pressure, it's likely feeder cattle prices will still be able to remain strong, despite what the board is doing, given that we are only weeks away from turn out season to grass, and that supplies are so thin.
It was a challenging morning for the lean hog complex as traders have just fully accepted the morning's positive export report and then were comfortable advancing the contracts again. Pork cutout values are slightly higher too, which could lend a little additional support. But more than anything, traders simply could not deny the strong export report the market received this morning. The contracts aren't up against immediate resistance pressure anymore, which allowed for some minor upward trade.
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