By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
May corn closed up 2 1/4 cents and July corn was up 2 cents. May soybeans closed up 13 1/4 cents and July soybeans were up 12 3/4 cents. May KC wheat closed unchanged, 0 cents, May Chicago wheat was up 3 3/4 cents, May Minneapolis wheat was down 3 1/2 cents.
The soybean market continued to press higher, setting new calendar highs in early trade on Thursday before eventually relaxing off highs through the day trade. Corn futures held to modest gains despite late session pressure while wheat markets were more mixed in nature. Prices were supported by higher energy markets with the war in the Middle East raging on and thus far little indication of an easing to the conflict but held in check by immediate chart resistance to the upside. The U.S. dollar was firm and again testing topside resistance among 2026 highs and closing in on six month highs. Equity markets were sharply lower again as investors are anxious regarding what the sharp rise in energy prices could mean for the greater world economy through 2026.
LIVESTOCK:
Following Wednesday's lower close, the live cattle complex was back to trading mildly higher. It's not because of an uptick in fundamental support -- but rather that some light technical support has worked its way into the market and is helping drive the contracts up into Thursday's closing bell. The other supportive factor that might be adding a slight boost to the market was the marketing year high of 25,400 metric tons of beef sold in Thursday morning's export report. A single bid is on the table in Kansas at $235 but otherwise no new cash cattle trade has developed following Wednesday's business.
Meanwhile the feeder cattle complex traded mostly mixed into Thursday's close as it isn't as confident at this time as the live cattle complex. The market continues to hover around its 100-day moving average, which could be a difficult threshold to boldly move past until some of the market's pressure resolves and its fundamentals improve.
Once again the lean hog complex was trailing lower as the market's resistance simply is too much for traders to bear at this point. While pork cutout values may be mildly higher, the market doesn't seem to be seeing that as a wildly supportive gesture as it not only wants to see higher prices but also consistency.