By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
September corn closed down 2 1/4 cents and December corn was down 1 1/2 cents. August soybeans closed down 3 1/2 cents and November soybeans were up 2 1/4 cents. September KC wheat closed down 7 cents, September Chicago wheat was down 2 1/2 cents, September Minneapolis wheat was down 7 1/4 cents.
Grain markets were choppy but surprisingly calm following the release of the 2025 Acreage report and June 1 Stocks reports from USDA. The reports did hold a few surprises, but for the most part came in very close to what traders expected. It is likely the market will shift focus back to growing season weather and winter wheat harvests beginning with Monday afternoon's Crop Progress update from USDA. In outside markets, equities were firm following the announced resumption of trade discussions between the United States and Canada after Friday's ultimately brief spat over digital services tax. Meanwhile, energy markets remain an extremely narrow trade for the past four sessions following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The U.S. Dollar Index is pushing to new 2025 lows as market anxiety over tariffs and trade has returned to some degree ahead of the July 9 deadline for the 90-day tariff pause, with President Trump stating over the weekend there are no plans to extend the pause in most instances.
LIVESTOCK:
Believe it or not, the live cattle complex traded higher into Monday's close, following the large surge in which the market accomplished last Friday. More than anything traders seem to be looking at the market's regression and seem to believe that enough immediate downside pressure has been endured for the meantime. Now what's perplexing about that conclusion is that traders are willing to advance the contracts amid mixed market fundamentals: boxed beef prices continue to scale higher while fed cash cattle prices are drifting lower. Thankfully Friday's surge of the contracts helped push the spot August contract back above its 40-day moving average, which will continue to be a threshold to monitor. New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Texas, and Nebraska/Colorado, but lower in Kansas.
Following the lead of the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle contracts also traded fully higher into Monday's closing bell. But even though the fed cash cattle market has been trading lower in recent weeks, the feeder cattle complex has remained consistent in the countryside as buyers continue to show up and buy aggressively as they need to fill their orders and there simply aren't enough calves to go around to do so in a relaxed manner. Given that this week is a holiday-shortened week for the Fourth of July, feeder cattle sales will be light.
While the cattle contracts were rallying, the lean hog complex continued with its downward trend as the market isn't seeing the fundamental support it needs currently. Pork cutout values were disturbing to look at this morning as the rib was down $16.25 and the ham down $6.79.
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