Grains
December corn closed down 3 1/4 cents and March corn was down 3 3/4 cents. January soybeans closed down 13 3/4 cents and March soybeans were down 12 1/2 cents. December KC wheat closed down 9 1/4 cents, December Chicago wheat was down 9 3/4 cents, December MIAX Minneapolis wheat was down 8 1/2 cents.
The market continued to remove premium from prices on Thursday, despite another strong reported sale to China for soybeans early Thursday morning. It would seem like a classic case of "buying the rumor and selling the fact" in the complex for this week. Now that China has seemingly returned to the U.S. market in a meaningful way, traders likely are seeking to establish a new price range. In other words, from the October lows, how much in cents per bushel is the anticipated business from China worth? Time will tell on that. In outside markets, the general bearish tone for Thursday was well noted, with equities all but giving back a short bounce based on strong earnings from AI darling Nvidia. Fears of an AI bubble are the most pointed to explanation for the stock market weakness. Meanwhile, energy futures are lower again, with diesel prices reversing from multi-month highs perhaps on news that President Trump has reportedly approved a plan for ending the Russian-Ukraine war.
Livestock
The livestock complex was again trading mixed as the cattle contracts dipped lower upon not seeing enough fundamental support in the market, but the lean hog contracts traded higher. No new cash cattle trade has developed, but bids were on the table in Nebraska.
Without seeing more fundamental support, the live cattle complex was trading lower into midday Thursday as traders were disappointed to note the decline in fed cash cattle prices again this week, and aren't overly thrilled with boxed beef prices being mixed again this morning.
Again today, the lean hog contracts were trading higher as traders seem to believe that the market has trended lower enough for the time being. It is helpful that pork cutout values were a tick higher this morning, but the volume of cash hogs traded over the week has been relatively thin.