By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn closed down 5 cents and December corn was down 4 1/2 cents. July soybeans closed down 3/4 cents and November soybeans were up 1 1/4 cents. July KC wheat closed down 6 1/2 cents, July Chicago wheat was down 13 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was down 11 cents.
Corn and wheat futures headed lower yet again on Wednesday, pressured by weak energy futures after reports circulated that an agreement had been reached between the U.S. and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and withdraw U.S. troops from the region, a narrative which the White House later said was false. Still, crude oil futures remained under pressure through the session and among the lowest West Texas Intermediate prices in over a month. Meanwhile, the soybean complex was able to find support led by strong trade in products markets with soybean oil reversing from early lows along with diesel futures.
LIVESTOCK:
After trading in hesitant manner on Tuesday, live cattle futures jumped back into the marketplace in a more aggressive manner through Wednesday's closing bell. Thankfully Wednesday's bullish run has the contracts moving closer to the market's 40-day moving average, which the complex fell below late last week. Still no cash cattle trade has developed, and both bids and asking prices remain elusive at this point. Trade will likely be delayed until Thursday or Friday.
Luckily, the feeder cattle complex was also higher as traders are relieved to have last week's Cattle on Feed report behind them and are grateful for the additional technical support amid seeing the live cattle contracts trading higher also. So long as the live cattle contracts continue to trade higher, the feeder cattle contracts will likely be able to do so through the balance of the week.
While the cattle contracts scaled higher, the lean hog complex desired to do so as well, but traded in a mixed manner into Wednesday's close as traders yearn to see better consumer support. Meanwhile, the further deferred months are trading slightly lower -- potentially because of the fear of having too much supply in the later part of year and into 2027.