By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn closed down 3 cents and December corn was down 3 1/2 cents. July soybeans closed down 1 1/2 cents and November soybeans were up 1 3/4 cents. July KC wheat closed down 11 1/4 cents, July Chicago wheat was down 16 1/4 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was down 9 3/4 cents.
Thursday featured a general risk-off attitude amongst traders, particularly in the wheat market where prices fell steadily after hitting almost two-year highs early this week. Spillover weakness extended to the corn market, while soybeans were more resilient with traders still willing to wait for the results of the Trump/Xi summit in May before casting their votes on longer-term price direction. In macro news, the U.S. economy returned to steady growth through the first quarter of 2026, with GDP growing at a 2% annual rate. Meanwhile, inflation has heated up since the onset of the war in the Middle East, with the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index hitting its highest rate in almost three years in March, even when excluding energy and food prices. For Thursday, energy futures were mostly softer with no significant developments regarding the standstill in the Strait of Hormuz.
LIVESTOCK:
Steady and consistent -- thus far that's what Thursday was in the live cattle complex as the market is simply trading sideways, holding the strong position the contracts ran to earlier this week upon seeing the powerful rally in the fed cash cattle complex and continued beef demand. But without anything "new" hitting the market from a positive, fundamental front, the market is trading mostly sideways. There's been no new developments Thursday in the fed cash cattle market and there's a chance -- outside of some light clean up trade -- this week's trade could be essentially done. So far this week Northern dressed cattle have traded at mostly $400, which is $14.00 higher than last week's weighted average. Southern live cattle have traded at mostly $255 to $256, which is $9.00 to $10.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average.
Oddly enough, although the live cattle contracts weren't blazing trails higher Thursday, the feeder cattle complex confidently pushed a $1.00 to $2.00 rally into Thursday's noon hour. Buyers have been mixed this week in the countryside for feeder cattle as they have been selective on the type and kind of cattle they're wanting given that prices are so high.
The lean hog complex was trailing mostly lower throughout Thursday's session, as the market was disgruntled to see midday pork cutout values lower again and traders desperately yearn for greater fundamental support. Thursday the main reason the carcass price was lower on the noon report is the $3.77 decline on the butt.