By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
September corn closed up 9 cents and December corn was up 9 cents. August soybeans closed up 9 1/2 cents and November soybeans were up 10 3/4 cents. September KC wheat closed up 42 cents, September Chicago wheat was up 32 1/2 cents, September Minneapolis wheat was up 25 1/4 cents.
Wheat was the star of the show at midweek with Kansas City futures surging over 40 cents Wednesday as traders rapidly move to inject risk back into prices following Russia's closure of the Kerch Strait and reports of increased attacks against Ukrainian export infrastructure as well. Meanwhile, weather across the globe still leans bullish to growing grain and oilseed crops in the Northern Hemisphere. The U.S. heat wave is expected to remain in place through the upcoming weekend, while the historic heat wave remains across Europe and is reported to be deteriorating corn conditions there. Outside markets were mixed on Wednesday, with the U.S. dollar lower and influenced by easing interest rates following Tuesday's cool CPI reading. Energy markets saw another day of slightly higher crude oil futures, while diesel futures took a breather after two very firm sessions to begin the week.
LIVESTOCK:
Without any support from market fundamentals the live cattle contracts continued to scale lower. The spot August contract was hitting a support plane at the $230.00 mark, which hopefully will keep the market from trading much lower. But if fundamentals don't improve, that's a big wish. Some bids are currently on the table in Nebraska at $238 to $240 live and $375 dressed; but no trade has developed following Tuesday's thin movement. On Tuesday some cattle traded in Nebraska at $380, which is $12.00 lower than last week's weighted average, but some cattle were also sold in Iowa at $385, which is $6.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average. At this point it's anyone's guess where the cash market trend will land this week.
The feeder cattle complex trailed lower as traders simply don't have enough support readily available to them to keep the prices from moving any other direction. Demand has been mixed again this week in sale barns, which isn't lending the market as much support as traders would hope to see either.
The cattle contracts may be continuing to suffer, but it's a break-out day for the lean hog contracts as the spot August contract attempted to trade above the market's resistance at $100.00. It's been helpful, again this week, that packers have been buying large quantities of hogs in the cash market and pork cutout values have been mostly supported.