By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn closed down 3 1/2 cents and December corn was down 6 cents. July soybeans closed down 15 1/2 cents and November soybeans were down 11 cents. July KC wheat closed down 12 1/4 cents, July Chicago wheat was down 5 3/4 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was down 15 cents.
For Tuesday, bearish traders kept their grip on the market, seeing the favorable early growing conditions and decent crop ratings from USDA on Monday as reason enough to bail out of long positions and betting on prices grinding lower through the summer months. Outside market influence has gone largely ignored through the week thus far, with President Trump stating that talks with Iran are ongoing despite reports to the contrary on Monday. Crude oil (and other energy futures) turned higher again on Tuesday as the situation in the Persian Gulf remains murky. Equity markets are unbothered by geopolitics with the S&P500 charging to new records this week and driven by yet another AI-related rally.
LIVESTOCK:
Live cattle futures continued to trade lower as the complex longs for greater fundamental support. Unless the fed cash cattle market trades higher it is most likely this steady to somewhat lower sideways chop will continue to be the market's main theme this week. A few sales have been reported in Texas this morning at $255, but not enough cattle have traded to say any sort of a trend for the week has been established. There's been a lot of chatter surrounding New World screwworm this week. This morning news was circulating that a case of NWS had been detected just one mile from the U.S./Mexico border. But USDA posted on social media that they have not confirmed a case that close and the rumor is misinformation.
With rumors circulating about New World screwworm and no one knowing what to believe or not to believe at this point, the feeder cattle complex has fallen sharply lower as traders don't want to be caught in a position of too much optimism. Given the bearish sentiment that overcame the cattle complex today it's likely the market will keep with this lower trend through Tuesday's close and into Wednesday.
The lean hog complex, on the other hand, was trading higher into Tuesday's closing bell as traders are pleased to note the uptick in pork demand as the midday pork cutout values were more than $2.00 higher. The market will run into some resistance pressure around $102 in the spot July contract, but as of this point traders are continuing to push the contract higher.