By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
December corn closed up 3 1/4 cents and March corn was up 1 3/4 cents. November soybeans closed up 11 cents and January soybeans were up 10 1/4 cents. December KC wheat closed up 5 3/4 cents, December Chicago wheat was up 3 cents, December Minneapolis wheat was up 1 1/2 cents.
President Trump finalized a deal with Japan during his visit to the country on Monday afternoon, adding fuel to the already surging row crop markets. Japan is already a significant buyer of U.S. ag products and the agreement keeps market participants optimistic that the relationship will continue to grow in terms of volumes traded. Meanwhile, energy prices have worked lower thus far this week, retesting support following last week's Russia sanction driven jump. Equity markets are higher primarily on trade optimism, as investors will turn their attention to the Federal Reserve on Wednesday for their interest rate decision, which is widely expected to be another quarter point cut.
LIVESTOCK:
The live cattle complex found just a smidgen of stability in Tuesday's market, as traders let the contracts trade mildly higher for portions of the session. Meanwhile, the turmoil that's shaken the cattle complex to its core is still rattling the fed cash cattle market as bids are on the table early this morning, and packers were able to get some cattle bought Monday afternoon. Asking prices are noted at $240 plus in the South but are still not established in the North. A light trade was reported by Mandatory in the North yesterday, with dressed deals showing a rather wide range of $355 to $360.
The live cattle complex may have traded higher for portions of the session, but the feeder cattle market was still trading sharply lower as the market is unsettled and uneasy without knowing what happened between Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Mexican officials in their meeting last Friday. Unfortunately, until some answers are provided or some clarity develops, it's unlikely that the market is going to trade anything but lower.
The lean hog complex continued to trade lower as the market is still disappointed in the lack of support it's seeing from consumers. And until traders see more support develop, a steady/somewhat lower trend is most likely.