GRAINS:
Trade volume continued its steady decline Tuesday as the grain and oilseed markets’ two-day price rally hit chart resistance. Currently the wheat market is the only one among the big three that has substantial fundamental backing in the form of Russian/Ukraine conflict escalation; but even that story has already begun to feel a little stale as wheat markets also failed to overcome technical resistance Tuesday. Outside market influence was also mixed Tuesday, with the U.S. Dollar Index trading both sides of even, while crude oil has moved slightly higher following a big day Monday on Black Sea concerns. December corn closed down 2 cents and March corn was down 2 cents. January soybeans closed down 11 1/4 cents and March soybeans were down 10 1/2 cents. March KC wheat closed up 2 1/2 cents, March Chicago wheat was up 2 cents and March Minneapolis wheat was up 1 cent.
LIVESTOCK:
The live cattle complex is again traded higher as the added interest of traders has been the bullish wind the market was longing for. It would be a near perfect storm for the market if its fundamentals were helping aid trader movement along, but at this point the live cattle market’s fundamentals continue to be lethargic as boxed beef prices are still mixed, and it’s yet to be seen what the cash cattle market will do this week. But with next week a holiday shortened week for Thanksgiving, it’s logical to assume with reduced slaughter speeds in the near future, steady trade will likely be the market’s best outcome this week. For feeder cattle at this point, the spot January contract is trading at its highest point since the commodity meltdown in August and the market hasn’t shown any signs of reaching exhaustion yet. And while the live cattle market’s fundamentals haven’t been overly supportive lately, it would be remiss of me not to mention how strong feeder cattle sales have been in the countryside. The lean hog market seems to have exhausted traders support at this point as it continues to trade lower. Not helping matters is the fact that last week when the market ran into resistance levels the fundamentals haven’t been supportive enough to justify any higher trade throughout the futures. Again, Tuesday morning pork cutout values are lower, and largely that’s because of the continued volatility in the belly which spiraled another $8.34 lower on this morning’s report.
