By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
The fact that the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire conditional on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz resulted in the liquidation of some war premium in grain markets. At one point, spot crude oil futures plunged more than $21 per barrel and the Dow Jones Index rose 1,400 points. The ceasefire will allow a period of negotiation to find a permanent end to the war. It's anyone's guess as to whether the ceasefire holds.
May corn closed down 1 3/4 cents at $4.47 1/4 and July corn finished down 2 cents at $4.58. May soybeans closed up 3 3/4 cents at $11.62 and July soybeans were up 3 1/2 cents at $11.78. May KC wheat closed down 12 1/4 cents at $5.95 1/4, May Chicago wheat was down 17 3/4 cents at $5.80 1/4 and May Minneapolis wheat was down 17 cents at $6.24.
LIVESTOCK:
Following Tuesday's slightly lower close, the live cattle complex got back to trading softly higher. The market isn't currently pressing beyond the resistance at $247.50 in the spot June contract, but traders are seeming to signal and show their support remains ample -- all they need is for fundamental support to remain ample as well. Asking prices of $250-plus have surfaced in Texas, but otherwise the fed cash cattle market remains idle with no developments having surfaced yet. Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $1.21 ($381.53) and select down $0.07 ($386.26) with a movement of 67 loads (44.26 loads of choice, 3.84 loads of select, 10.70 loads of trim and 8.04 loads of ground beef).
Once again keeping in alignment with the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle complex was trading moderately higher into Wednesday's close. Between the demand recently seen in the countryside, mixed with the technical support of the upward trend in the live cattle complex -- currently traders have all the support they need to help drive the feeder cattle contracts higher.
Following Monday's aggressive rally, the lean hog complex has spent its time moving lower as traders aren't confident the market possess enough support to justify a higher move. Once again Wednesday, pork cutout values were lower which doesn't help add any fundamental support.