By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn closed up 4 cents and December corn was up 4 1/4 cents. July soybeans closed up 5 cents and November soybeans were up 5 1/4 cents. July KC wheat closed up 10 1/2 cents, July Chicago wheat was up 15 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was up 8 cents.
Row-crop futures were moderately higher to begin the new week, supported by firm energy markets after President Trump deemed the Iranian response to last week's U.S. proposal as "unacceptable" and said the now month-old ceasefire is on "massive life support." It is shaping up to be a significant week for market news with the busy May WASDE due out on Tuesday and President Trump set to visit China at the end of the week. In position news, last Friday's Commitments of Traders report showed that the combined noncommercial net-long in futures surpassed 1 million contracts, a level which has only occurred twice before, in late 2020/early 2021 and again in spring of 2022.
LIVESTOCK:
Although the cash market traded higher last week and boxed beef prices are higher at the week's start, traders continue to seem committed to pushing the live cattle complex lower. It is wild, however, to see some bids have already surfaced at $260 in most regions as it's looking like this week again packers are short bought, even though they bought a whopping 107,353 head in last week's cash market. Even a few sales surfaced in Kansas already Monday morning at $260 -- which is $3.00 higher than last week's weighted average.
Continuing to keep in perfect alignment with the live cattle contracts, the feeder cattle futures were also trading lower. But what's especially painful to note about the downward trend in the feeder cattle complex is the fact that the spot August contract is now trading below its 40-day moving average, which could ignite continued downward pressure for the complex as it's a vulnerable technical position to be in.
The lean hog complex thankfully was seeing some support through Monday's trade as all of its contracts were scaling higher into the closing bell. Late last week pork demand improved and thankfully demand is remaining strong here Monday -- which could be why traders are willing to mildly support the contracts.