GRAINS:
December corn closed down 3 3/4 cents and September contracts of all three U.S. wheats finished lower Thursday, still unable to find support at extremely cheap price levels. November soybeans were unchanged after soybean processors reported a higher crush total in July. September corn closed down 6 cents and December corn was down 3 3/4 cents. September soybeans closed down 3/4 cent and November soybeans were unchanged. September KC wheat closed down 9 1/4 cents, September Chicago wheat was down 6 1/2 cents and September Minneapolis wheat was down 5 3/4 cents.
LIVESTOCK:
Traders seem to be impatiently tapping their feet as they wait for the cash cattle market to trade. One could logically think traders would find it supportive that beef exports marked a marketing year high Thursday morning; but the only thing that seems to matter is what the cash cattle market is going to do as traders currently have ample other fundamental supportive factors with exports and stronger midday boxed beef prices. With the recent pullback in the live cattle complex, feeder cattle contracts have regressed as well, despite demand in the countryside remaining incredibly strong. Even though Thursday morning’s export report noted a marketing-year low for pork sales, the lean hog complex is finding support in the morning’s higher pork cutout value. What’s interesting about seeing the carcass price jump over $4.00 is that it wasn’t driven by one single cut, as the belly gained $12.64, but the butt jumped $4.87 higher, the loin gained $4.57 and the ham jumped $3.38 higher from Wednesday’s prices. As long as demand continues to shine through the afternoon report, the hog complex should not have an issue keeping with its higher trend.
