By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
December corn closed up 5 cents and March corn was up 5 1/2 cents. November soybeans closed up 10 cents and January soybeans were up 12 cents. December KC wheat closed up 11 1/2 cents, December Chicago wheat was up 9 1/4 cents, December Minneapolis wheat was up 10 1/4 cents.
Corn, soybean, and wheat markets all enjoyed higher sessions for Thursday, with the wheat market taking a rare position as the daily leader, as sub-$5.00 prices for nearby Kansas City futures may finally be incentivizing some short covering amongst traders. Meanwhile, U.S. and Chinese officials are set to meet in Malaysia this weekend to hopefully set the stage for the long-anticipated meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi at the end of the month. Outside markets for Thursday were very supportive of Ag futures, especially from an energies standpoint, with crude oil futures launching higher on fresh U.S. sanctions against Russia's biggest oil producers.
LIVESTOCK:
Now that the live cattle industry has had time to see and absorb Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins plan to revitalize the U.S. beef herd, the market was back to trading higher as traders and industry experts saw no real issue with the proposal. There are some bids beginning to hit the market as packers have offered $238 live in Nebraska and $370 dressed in Nebraska. But at this time, no major sales have been reported. Asking prices are still not established in the North but are now listed in the South at $243 plus. Packer interest could improve later this afternoon, but it's most likely that trade is delayed until Friday as feedlot managers are going to try to see prices trade higher again this week.
The feeder cattle complex is still trading sorely lower, as it remains uneasy with the cattle complex being a hot ticket item this week for the President. The spot November contract is nearing the market's 40-day moving average, which would be a bad threshold to cross for the market as it could signal more downward pressure.
With pork cutout values lower again today, it comes as no real surprise that the lean hog complex is trading lower yet again. Unfortunately, it's most likely that the market will continue to trade sideways/somewhat lower throughout the remainder of the week as support is expected to significantly change ahead of the week's end.