By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
May corn closed down 5 cents and July corn was down 5 1/4 cents. May soybeans closed down 8 1/2 cents and July soybeans were down 8 3/4 cents. May KC wheat closed down 3/4 cents, May Chicago wheat was up 2 3/4 cents, May Minneapolis wheat was down 3 1/2 cents.
Row-crop futures turned lower Tuesday despite a seemingly worsening situation in the Middle East with President Trump reaffirming his Tuesday evening deadline for Iran to completely reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran cutting off all direct diplomacy with the U.S. as a result of President Trump's threats. Traders have shifted focus to comfortable levels for grain and oilseed reserves around the globe, and frankly a lack of clearly bullish news to dissuade traders from booking profits on net-long positions. Corn, soybean, and wheat futures remain immediately above medium to long-term chart support. Energy futures were mostly higher, with WTI prices closing at the March 9 calendar year high. Equities were lower as investors hopes for a U.S.-Iran ceasefire have been diminished.
LIVESTOCK:
After rallying aggressively over the last seven trading days, the live cattle complex seemed to be waiving its white flag, and is experienced some exhaustion after such a tremendous move. Until the market sees what's going to develop fundamentally this week, a sideways or potentially even minor lower trend may begin to develop. At this point no new cash cattle trade has developed and trade will likely be delayed until the later part of the week. Do note that JBS workers are returning to work Tuesday at the Greeley, Colorado, packing plant which ends a long, three-week strike that began on March 16. Negotiations will continue on Thursday and Friday as no labor agreement has been reached yet.
Keeping in perfect unison with the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle contracts were also trading moderately lower into Tuesday's closing bell. Until the live cattle complex turns higher again, it's likely the feeder cattle contracts will remain skeptical of trading much higher.
Following Monday's rapid surge, the lean hog complex also saw some minor resistance in its nearby contracts while its deferred contracts continued to scale higher. Midday pork cutout values were up slightly, which is helpful from a fundamental sense, but until traders regain confidence, the market could simply hold steady.