DTN's Quick Takes

Todd Hultman
DTN Analyst
and
Rick Kment
DTN Analyst

Grains

OMAHA (DTN) -- As we near the close, May corn is steady, May soybeans are up 5 1/4 cents and May Chicago wheat is down 1/4 cent. Corn and winter wheat have put in another quiet day to end the week, but May soybeans are up on higher volume after overcoming early bearish news of cancelled export sales from China. May soybean meal is down 10 cents and bean oil is up $0.35 after the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange lowered its estimate of Argentina's soybean crop from 50.0 to 47.0 mmt (1.7 bb). Outside commodities are mixed and the March U.S. dollar index is up 0.16.

Posted 11:49 -- May corn is down 1/4 cent, May soybeans are up 5 3/4 cents and May Chicago wheat is steady. Corn is barely moving within a 2 3/4-cent range, but May soybeans have recovered from their earlier sell-off and are within 4 cents of their July high, helped by Argentina's forecast staying dry. Friday's weather map shows rain from Oklahoma into the Ohio River Valley where flooding is already occurring, with more rain expected in the southeastern Midwest in the week ahead. April gold is down $1.50 and April crude oil is up 79 cents.

Posted 09:47 -- May corn is down 3/4 cent, May soybeans are down 1 1/2 cents and May K.C. wheat is down 1/2 cent. Price moves are limited early, but higher overnight trade in grains has now turned slightly lower, possibly related to Friday morning's bearish export sales reports. Meanwhile, the seven-day forecasts remain dry for southern Brazil, Argentina and the western U.S. Plains. Flooding problems along the Ohio River are apt to get worse with more heavy rains expected in the week ahead. Outside commodities are mixed.

Posted 08:40 -- After the 8:30 open, May corn is up 1/4 cent, May soybeans are up 1 1/4 cents and May K.C. wheat is up 2 1/2 cents. In Friday's weekly export sales report from USDA, soybeans showed a net cancellation of 4.0 million bushels, traced to a 12 million bushel reduction from China. The report maintained bearish export paces for corn, soybeans and wheat. At 8 a.m. CST, USDA announced 4.5 million bushels (115,000 mt) of U.S. corn were sold to Egypt for 2017-18. A meager 3.9 million bushels (106,000 mt) of U.S. soybeans were sold to unknown, 1.5 million bushels of which were for 2017-18.

Livestock

Posted 11:47 -- Light buying has slowly trickled into feeder cattle and lean hog trade midday, with the narrow trading ranges seen in these two markets through the morning allowing for additional market shifts over the last couple hours of trade. Follow through pressure is seen in live cattle trade. It is likely that prices will continue to shift in all markets through the end of the week.

Posted 11:05 -- Moderate pressure is holding in all livestock markets with the most aggressive losses still seen in nearby live cattle trade. The overall lack of support moving into the cattle market is somewhat surprising, as some had figured that most activity Friday would be focusing on position taking and short covering market moves. Hog futures have moved lower in a narrow range with nearby contracts holding 10-to-25 cent losses. Trade volume is expected to remain sluggish through the rest of the session.

Posted 09:45 -- Early support in hog trade Friday morning has started to erode, with prices remaining mixed in a narrow range. The aggressive support over the last couple of days has allowed more focus to be placed on position squaring ahead of the weekend. This could keep prices sluggish in a very narrow range. Cattle futures have continued to slide lower, which is allowing for additional market pressure to be seen in both live cattle and feeder cattle markets. Continued pressure may break through initial short-term support levels through the day if current pressure continues.

(BE)

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