By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
December corn closed up 1 1/2 cents and March corn was up 1 1/4 cents. November soybeans closed up 3 1/4 cents and January soybeans were up 2 3/4 cents. December KC wheat closed up 5 1/2 cents, December Chicago wheat was up 7 1/2 cents, December Minneapolis wheat was up 5 1/4 cents.
Crop prices recovered their Wednesday losses for the most part on Thursday as weekly price action has turned sideways amid a lack of fresh news to drive prices convincingly one direction or the other. Early news that Argentina has reimplemented grain export taxes after hitting the $7 billion quota in two days likely provided support on Thursday. Outside markets were mixed with lower equities again for the third straight session, with the rally through September to records in the Dow Jones and S&P already counter to September's historical tendency to be a poor month for stocks, it is not surprising to see some profit taking/position squaring into month end. The U.S. Dollar Index was also firmer again on Thursday, and back toward monthly highs as investors and traders alike will be very interested in Friday's Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Index, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure for monetary policy decisions.
LIVESTOCK:
The live cattle complex continued to battle anxiousness and seemingly growing concerns about the lower dip in the equity markets, which put immense pressure today on the live cattle contracts. Unfortunately, the spot December contract is trading just below the market's 40-day moving average, and the market did indeed close below that threshold, that could signal continued downward pressure. Some light (very light) trade was reported in Nebraska at $365, which is $6.00 lower than last week's weighted average. Making matters even worse is the fact that some of those cattle are committed for delivery on the weeks of October 6 and October 13. This indicates packers are aiming to build up their supply for the long term so that they can continue to work cash prices lower. Asking prices in the South are firm at $242 to $244 but are still not clearly established in the North.
It was a day of hard knocks as the feeder cattle contracts once again followed in the live cattle market's wake, but they saw losses far greater as most of the feeder cattle contracts traded more than $5.00 lower into Thursday's closing bell. Thankfully, demand has been incredibly strong this week in feeder cattle sales across the country, but this dip in the futures complex could shake buyers a bit.
The cattle complex may have traded lower, but the lean hog contracts mostly kept their upward trend into Thursday's close. It's likely that traders will continue to mildly support the contracts through the week's end, but won't likely pressure resistance thresholds until after seeing the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report.