Corn May +2 304; Jly +2 314; Dec +3 333 (327-35)

Bean May +6 832; Jly +5 837; Nov +5 844 (838-47)

Meal +1 283

  Oil +48 2578

Wheat May -7 519; Jly -9 516 (510-26); Dec -7 530

  KC -7 468; MGE -7 492

Oats +1 306

Rice May +114 1800; Jly -8 1467

 

LC Apr +7 8560; Aug +52 12845; Oct +15 13055

FC Apr -7 11955; Aug +52 12845; Oct +15 13055

LH May +122 5627; Jly -177 5847; Oct -290 5650

Milk May +25 1153; Jun +40 1252; Jly +40 1382

CBOT futures closed mixed with gains in corn and beans and losses in wheat contracts. Wheat was pressured by rainfall in some of our competitor nations. Corn shook off the pressure from lower wheat futures to close slightly higher and in the upper range. May corn made a new contract low and July tested its contract low before corrective buying ensued in the last 90 minutes of trading. Corn as well as the soy complex were lifted by a sharp rally in nearby crude oil futures (ethanol futures rose sharply today). A drop in weekly ethanol stocks is good news as well as the beginning of some cities/states partially opening their economies (more miles driven). Today had soybeans, soymeal and soyoil futures all showing good strength. Soybean meal futures traded down to new contract lows before rallying back to positive closes. Meat processing plant problems continue to hang over the corn and meal market.

Cattle futures closed mixed in narrow trading ranges. Despite President Trump’s executive order mandating meat processors remain open, that doesn’t guarantee the labor will be there to increase slaughter numbers. Week-to-date slaughter is estimated at 13% behind last week and 39% below year-ago. Cash trade so far this week has been very light. At today’s online FCE auction, prices ranged 94.50 to 100.00 on 818 head. Choice beef is up 26.56 to 357.38 and Select up 19.03 to 339.91 – new record highs. On April 21, Choice was $260 and Select was $249. Retail prices haven’t adjusted this much so far, but quantities will be limited for some cuts.

Beyond the nearby May LH contract, hog futures closed lower to sharply lower in the deferred contracts. Today’s selloff followed the past week’s strong runup in LH futures and yesterday’s poor price action. Sharp reductions in hog slaughter is supporting the pork cutout. FOB Plant Pork gained 2.24 to 90.73. The only cut losing value was the loin – down 3.39 to 108.50. Bellies were up over 4% to 123.05, hams and ribs up 5% and picnic up 7%. So far this week, slaughter is over 20% below week-ago and down 40% from year-ago.

All ag markets will study tomorrow’s weekly Export Sales report for signs that China has been buying.

US equity markets soared today, adding to recent gains. Support came from positive news on a prospective COVID-19 therapeutic drug and the Fed Chairman’s comments that the Federal Reserve will aggressively use every tool they have to support the economy through this crisis. The Fed can’t “spend” money, but they have nearly unlimited means to “loan” new money. The Fed expects to keep interest rates this low for a long time to stimulate economic activity.

 

US$ -.3%  99.55

Dow +532 25634

SP +76 2940

NAS +307 8915

Tran +221 8629

VIX -2.21 31.37

 

WTI +272 1506

Brent +223 2269

Gas +6 73

NG -2 179

HO +6 69

Eth +9 103

Gold -9 1713

Slvr -1 1516

 

2-yr -.006 0.203%

5-yr -.016 0.353%

10yr +.004 0.614%

30yr +.025 1.232%

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