By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn is down 6 cents per bushel, November soybeans are down 1 1/4 cents, September KC wheat is down 11 1/4 cents, September Chicago wheat is down 6 1/2 cents and September Minneapolis wheat is down 8 cents. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 154 points. The U.S. Dollar Index is up 0.15 and August crude oil is down $2.40 per barrel. August gold is down $44.90 per ounce. Heading into the Monday close, soybean oil was extending gains despite the decline in crude oil futures, while corn, soybeans and wheat remain under modest selling pressure. The forecast for much of the Corn Belt remains bearish and wet, while China failed to show up for more beans this morning.
LIVESTOCK:
I personally was worried that Friday's Cattle on Feed report was going to be absorbed in a bearish manner by the live cattle futures, given the fact that we currently sit with a greater number of cattle on feed than compared to a year ago, and our marketing continues to dwindle. But thankfully on Friday (when the markets were closed), packers and feedlot managers hashed out last week's fed cash cattle trade and lo and behold, prices ended up being anywhere from $2.00 to $5.00 higher. Couple the cash cattle market's recent success with the fact that the equity markets were trading higher, and traders have been willing to look beyond last week's COF report and allow the live cattle contracts to trade higher. New show-lists appear to be higher in all major feeding states.
The feeder cattle contracts continued to trade higher as the market feels well supported by a number of different fronts right now. And as long as the live cattle contracts continue to rally, it's likely that the feeder cattle contracts will do the same.
The lean hog contracts, meanwhile, traded mixed as traders would like to think with midday pork cutout values higher that the contracts should be able to scale higher too, but with the contracts at resistance levels, traders are remaining cautious. Not to mention, demand has been fickle in recent weeks and traders want to see more than one single day's worth of higher prices before they become too bullish.