By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
December corn closed down 2 1/4 cents and March corn was down 1 3/4 cents. November soybeans closed up 1 cents and January soybeans were up 2 cents. December KC wheat closed down 1 3/4 cents, December Chicago wheat was down 1 3/4 cents, December Minneapolis wheat was down 1/4 cents.
Corn, soy, and wheat futures trade was two-sided to start the week but managed to gain a footing after sliding back toward recent lows largely as a result of a sudden flare up in trade tensions between the U.S. and China after China announced a series of export restrictions on rare-earth minerals as well as retaliatory shipping fees against the U.S. For now, things on that front have cooled over the weekend, with President Trump calling last week's development "a bad moment" and expressing confidence in the relationship. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterated early Monday that negotiations would move forward as well, at least temporarily easing market fears as stock indices were able to recover Monday from what was their worst day since April on Friday. Energy markets also rebounded to start the week, although crude prices remain within striking distance of calendar-year lows.
LIVESTOCK:
The live cattle complex continued to inch higher into this new week as the market is well supported by traders and its fundamentals. Last week, the fed cash cattle market was interesting as trade not only waited to develop until Friday, but there weren't even enough cattle traded in the South to say that any sort of a market trend was established. At any moment now, USDA should release the weekly report, which breaks down how many cattle were sold last week, at what price and for what delivery option they were committed to. It will be imperative to check that report when it's available as that will likely indicate how aggressive packers will be in this week's market. But nevertheless, the futures market is pleased with the support in which it saw last week and is eager to continue to push the contracts higher again this morning. New showlists appear to be a tad lower in Nebraska/Colorado and Texas and lower in Kansas. Last week, Northern dressed cattle didn't begin trading until Friday where most of the cattle were marked at $362, which is $2.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Southern live cattle were marked anywhere from $230 to $234.
And just like the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle contracts were also rallying into Monday's closing bell. But the one significant difference about the two markets this morning is that the feeder cattle complex is currently seeing the biggest day-over-day gains in its deferred contracts, which are traded mostly over $2.00 higher. Again today, the uptick in the contracts' prices reaches new contract highs in most of the nearby contracts.
It's likely that the uptick in the cattle contracts along with the stabilization in the equity markets is helped the lean hog contracts find support early this week. It's also helping matters that pork cutout values were higher, which is mainly being pushed by the picnic's $5.95 gain and the rib's $4.62 jump.