By NATHAN STUEDLE
St. Joseph Post
GRAINS:
May corn closed down 1 1/4 cents and July corn was down 1 cent. May soybeans closed up 15 3/4 cents and July soybeans were up 15 1/2 cents. May KC wheat closed up 1 1/4 cents, May Chicago wheat was down 3 1/4 cents, May Minneapolis wheat was up 3 1/4 cents.
Soybean futures were able to post a strong double-digit move higher and cover technical ground on bullish optimism ahead of Monday's acreage report. Along those lines, Monday's report is expected to show an increase in both corn and wheat acreage, year-over-year, which is the main source of pressure to those markets, although Kansas City wheat futures were able to showcase an impressive late=session rally to close higher for the day, snapping a streak of three down sessions. In outside markets, a fresh round of tariff headlines centered around the auto-industry has stock indices nervous Thursday, as the Dow Jones posted a two-way trade in the morning before sellers gained the edge. The U.S. Dollar Index is also working lower as a result of added uncertainty on Thursday but overall is firmer for the week.
LIVESTOCK:
The live cattle complex got back to trading higher as the contracts are no longer up against immediate pressure of hitting resistance points, and given the fact that traders remain hopeful that cash cattle prices will trade steady to somewhat higher again this week. There's a bid currently on the table in Nebraska at $213, but no trade has developed quite yet. Asking prices are firm in the South from $211 to $212 but are not yet established in the North. Given the strong prices boxed beef prices have seen again this week, it's likely that feedlot managers will be willing to hold out until the week's bitter end for at steady prices, but ideally, they'd like to see higher prices.
Even though the live cattle complex was trading higher, the feeder cattle contracts continued to trade slightly lower much of the session, but as traders witnessed more confidence from the live cattle contracts, they eventually pushed the feeder cattle contracts higher. Nevertheless, the countryside continues to see phenomenal demand from buyers as they know that summertime pastures will be ready in no time.
Even though this morning's export sales report was supportive, the lean hog complex braced ahead of this afternoon's Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report. It's not helping matters either that pork cutout values were lower, which is adding even more doggishness to the market's tone.
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