Grains:
March corn closed down 4 3/4 cents and May corn was down 4 1/4 cents. March soybeans closed up 3 cents and May soybeans were up 2 3/4 cents. March KC wheat closed down 7 1/4 cents, March Chicago wheat was down 5 1/2 cents, March MIAX Minneapolis wheat was down 1 1/2 cents.
Soybeans continued their recent bullish burst for much of Friday morning, before sellers became very active and ultimately erased roughly 25 cents of value, sending prices well off daily highs. Traders were clearly uncomfortable carrying recent length into the weekend and saw reason to book some profits. Moreso, traders may be starting to lose patience and wish to see some export sales to follow up President Trump's very bullish Wednesday trade comments, with the daily flash sales page from USDA quiet both Thursday and Friday to close the week. Meanwhile, selling drove corn and wheat futures lower, negatively influencing soybeans as well. Traders are preparing for next week's WASDE report which will very likely reiterate January's findings of multi-year highs in U.S. grain reserves.
Livestock:
What a breath-holding last couple of days it's been for the cattle complex! Thursday, the market experienced a sharp sell-off as traders were nervous about the union strike at the JBS packing plant in Greely, Colorado, which consequently sent the live cattle complex tumbling mostly $5.00 lower. But the fast-paced environment of the marketplace seems to have moved past that headline and traders were again fixated on the market's strong fundamental strength as they were pleased to note the uptick in boxed beef prices and even more pleased to see fed cash cattle prices trading higher.
The feeder cattle complex was enjoying a healthy rally as well as the market is currently trading $6.00 to $7.00 higher into Friday's noon hour. Support came from the uptick in fed cash cattle prices to the additional fundamental support of stronger boxed beef prices and, of course, the technical confidence of saw the live cattle contracts scaling higher as well.
The lean hog contracts were enjoying a mild rally into Friday's noon hour as the market was merely chopping sideways into the noon hour. If the market weren't up against immediate resistance thresholds, then there was a chance that it would potentially still be trading robustly higher. But with technical fatigue setting in and midday pork cutout values down softly, traders have deemed the safest bet ahead of the weekend is a mild rally as opposed to an aggressive one.