GRAINS:
Despite the U.S. Dollar Index plunging to 8-month lows on expectations for lower interest rates, grain and soy markets fell early, with the exception of bean oil futures. Soybean meal turned it around late to close with a modest gain, while soybeans finished just a penny lower. Wheat led the way down on a day without much news. Soybeans weakened despite another new sale of 4.9 mb to unknown destinations. Bean oil futures got a bounce from lower-than-expected stocks on the August NOPA report. December corn closed down 2 1/2 cents per bushel at $4.11 3/4 and May corn was down 1 1/4 cents at $4.40 1/4. November soybeans closed down 1 3/4 cents at $10.05 1/2 and March soybeans were down 1 cent at $10.38 0/1. December KC wheat closed down 19 1/2 cents at $5.81 1/2, December Chicago wheat was down 16 1/4 cents at $5.79 1/2 and December Minneapolis wheat was down 15 3/4 cents at $6.20 3/4.
LIVESTOCK:
The live cattle complex could not jump on board with the notion that higher trade was the aim for Monday. One would think that traders would find it encouraging that packers weren’t able to get many cattle bought last week for the deferred delivery option, and that already this morning that midday boxed beef prices are higher. But nevertheless, the live cattle contracts are dragging their feet as the complex closed fully lower. Even with the live cattle contracts trading lower into Monday’s close, the feeder cattle contracts maintained a modest rally into the afternoon. The spot October contract was hesitant to take on the market’s resistance at its 40-day moving average, which caused the market to simply maintain a slightly higher tone through the day’s end and to ultimately chop sideways until traders determine if there’s enough support in the market to take on the threshold. The lean hog complex traded back and forth throughout the morning and the day’s noon hour. Traders are seeming to comfortably allow the nearby contracts to trade higher. Thankfully the spot October contract is far from its resistance, so if trader interest does grow stronger, the market shouldn’t have any issue closing higher as there’s ample room technically for the contracts to do so. Plus, it’s also helpful that morning pork cutout values were higher as last week’s demand wasn’t as strong as traders nor packers had hoped for.
