By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
March corn closed up 3 3/4 cents and May corn was up 5 1/4 cents. March soybeans closed up 13 1/4 cents and May soybeans were up 12 3/4 cents. March KC wheat closed up 15 1/2 cents, March Chicago wheat was up 15 1/4 cents, March Minneapolis wheat was up 7 1/4 cents.
It was a mostly positive session across the board for row-crop futures Thursday, with soybean futures again leading the way higher on continued trade optimism ahead of President Trump's upcoming visit to China in April. Meanwhile, wheat futures have caught a midweek burst, rallying from trendline support and aided by a strong past few weeks for export sales. This positively influenced corn futures as well for Thursday, with strong export sales in their own right. Outside markets were very volatile on Thursday, with no clear macro news to explain the sharp turn lower in stocks by late morning. Treasuries were firm again following Wednesday's better than expected jobs data for January. The U.S. dollar was firm, but energy markets turned lower on U.S. inventory build-ups in crude and finished motor gasoline last week, and at least a temporary soothing of supply risk as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are planned to continue.
LIVESTOCK:
Following Wednesday's sizeable rally, the live cattle complex was back to trading slightly lower as the market tries to patiently wait to see what's going to develop in the fed cash cattle market this week. With boxed beef prices declining -- as they seasonally do during this time -- traders need to see additional fundamental support, which will likely come from the cash market when trade develops at some point this week. But in the lightning fast world we live in, waiting until the very bitter end of the week to see what's going to develop fundamentally for the market is a painful waiting lesson traders aren't necessarily fond of. Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $0.39 ($365.53) and select down $0.59 ($361.99) with a movement of 46 loads (24.40 loads of choice, 3.08 loads of select, 7.95 loads of trim and 10.72 loads of ground beef).
And as one would logically assume in this market, with the live cattle contracts trading lower, the feeder cattle contracts followed suit. Demand has been mostly strong this week in the countryside for both feeder cattle and calves -- and especially for cattle that will make yearlings this upcoming summer.
The lean hog complex continues to tumble lower as the market anticipates a wall of supply that's likely going to hit the market at any point in time now. The latest Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report showed market-ready supplies were larger than originally assumed, and the market is bracing itself for that supply to hit.