Monthly Archives: June 2018

Coming off on Monday’s nasty bearish reaction to an ugly COF report, yesterday’s trade looked a lot better for the hopeful bulls. Feeder cattle futures all finished mildly higher. Live cattle spend time at higher, but ended with the front four months down a little bit and the feb and beyond contracts up a little. In the product trade, choice cutouts have now been down 14 out of the last 15 sessions, which means beef packer margins are tightening, but they are also still very solidly in the green. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will be willing to pay up for cattle this week, but it does mean they have wiggle room to do it if they feel the need. Unfortunately with a reduced kill…

Date: June 26th, 2018 The bearish Cattle on Feed and Cold Storage reports from last Friday pressured cattle futures on Monday, live cattle to limit lower and feeders $3+ lower. There is a sharp decline in show lists this week, slaughter last week was the largest of the year at 664K head and expected to be near that level again this week. A couple thousand head of cash fats confirmed for Monday at $108 to $109 live and $170 to $172 dressed, steady to $2 lower from the majority of last week’s trade. Monday’s salebarns…Joplin with 9,442 head compared to 7,280 last week. Compared to last week, steer and heifer calves steady to mostly $3 to $5 lower, yearlings steady to $3 lower. OKC had…

Date: June 25th, 2018 Cash feedlot trade finally got going Friday as packers held firm all week. Trading began at $109 to $110 live, steady to $1 lower than the week previous. It continued to fall throughout the day on Friday down to $107 live and $170 to $174 on a dressed basis in the North, up to $6 lower than a week ago. Bearish USDA Cold Storage Report with Total Red Meat 9% higher than a year ago and Beef up 13% from a year ago. Followed by another bearish Cattle On Feed Report. Cattle on feed as of June 1st totaled 11.6 million head, 104% vs. a year ago and 1 point higher than the pre report estimate. Placements during May equal to…

Welcome to Summer! ...er uh, spring, or whatever Ma Nature calls this wonderful cool weather day Grain market bulls caught a little glimmer of hope on Wednesday when the Tuesday night session finished in the green and the day session started out that way as well. Those hopes faded into worry when things went red very shortly after the start. They did come back to unchanged or a little higher at the close though. Whether it’s the fact crop conditions have started out the year really good this growing season in the Corn Belt, or funds have been massive sellers in recent days, none of that has been getting as much attention as the finger pointing at Trump and trade wars as the sole culprit.…

Date: June 20th, 2018 Morning Ag Markets – Matt Hines Cattle futures and corn staged a good recovery yesterday while lean hog futures, soybeans and wheat did come back from massive losses but still finished sharply lower. Hard to explain why some markets stayed under pressure and others rebounded with metals, energies and equities all mostly lower as well. Fed Cattle Exchange later this morning with a decent amount consigned, 2,125 head compared to the past few weeks of just a few hundred. Last week there were 596 head consigned, of which none sold, 2 lots passed out at $100 & $112 live. El Reno, OK yesterday, calf sale only reported steer and heifer calves $2 to $4 higher than last week. On Monday, Tulsa…

June 19, 2018 Morning Ag Markets Pete Loewen Cattle complex futures finished the day with a mixed bag of closing quotes, some higher and some lower. Front end June fats were down a little bit, but the front end August feeders were up $1 even and the strongest close of anything in cattle. Hogs shot actively higher on the front end, responding to the fact cash and product trade continues to hold really solid high numbers and yesterday’s kill was sharply reduced as well. This Friday we get monthly COF numbers released and the expectations look friendly for the most part. The On Feed total on June 1 is expected in a ranged from 102.8% of a year ago, up to 104.2% larger on the…

Date: June 18th, 2018 Morning Ag Markets – Matt Hines Cash feedlot trade was hard to pin down last week as scattered light trade was reported at $110 live and $178 dressed, sharply lower than the week previous. Friday afternoon some trade was reported at $110 to $113 live, still $2 to $5 lower than the week previous. Boxed beef demand is strong but prices have pulled back some from their peak in late May. Exports will continue to be the key driver and some concern moving forward with all the trade issues currently. NATIONAL FEEDER & STOCKER CATTLE SUMMARY – WEEK ENDING 06/15/2018 RECEIPTS: Auctions Direct Video/Internet Total This Week 179,900 56,400 80,200 316,500 Last Week 217,300 35,500 6,100 258,900 Last Year 146,700 32,500…

6.14.18 morning ag markets

Date: June 13th, 2018 Morning Ag Markets – Matt Hines Cattle futures were under pressure for most of the day yesterday but did come back to finish mixed for fats and only moderate losses for feeders. Lean hogs continue to build on recent strength with supportive cash prices and pork values. The Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will be later this morning with 596 head consigned compared to last week’s 568 head of which none were sold, 2 lots passed out at $110 live. Show lists appear to be bigger this week compared to last, $5 spike paid by packers can do that. The USDA supply and demand report was released yesterday morning with a few changes to both beef and pork. Beef production for…

Active day for the ag sector yesterday. It was an up day for the meats and up for wheat complex as well, but down in the fall crop markets of corn and soybeans. Even though the meats have been very erratic lately, testing contract lows in mid-May and then testing spring highs in some contracts just last week, cash fed cattle trade has been pretty stale since the $110 mark was hit the 3rd full week of May. June live cattle actually pushed up into the highest level it has traded since March at the peak yesterday. That was the biggest highlight for the meats. It also resulted in the basis gap narrowing down to just $1.70 versus the $110 cash that traded last week.…