Corn, wheat and soybean futures closed higher and near the day’s highs. Futures firmed up on Sunday evening and then weakened overnight. Once trading began at 830 am Monday, futures trended higher into the closing. Overnight weakness probably came from ideas that weather forecasts were less threatening. However, with corn in its critical pollination phase, this week’s hot temperatures encouraged buyers. Corn also benefited from a strong weekly export shipments report. Soybean futures were down sharply early this morning but recovered to the positive side. November Soybeans has good chart support at $10.20.  Wheat futures followed corn and beans higher on short-covering. Wheat is somewhat supported by its price competitiveness as feed wheat against corn.

Traders expected U.S. crop conditions to be stable form last week and that’s what USDA reported.  Rated good or excellent were 76% of corn acres and 71% of soybeans. This week’s heat could show up in next Monday’s report.

Week ending July 17
U.S. Corn Conditions
.        Good/Excellent  Poor/V.Poor

This Week      76%           5%

Last Week      76%           5%

Last year      69%           9%

U.S. Soybean Conditions
.        Good/Excellent  Poor/V.Poor

This Week      71%           7%

Last Week      71%           6%

Last year      62%          11%

Winter Wheat is 76% harvested compared to 73% for the 2011-15 average.

Cattle futures closed higher, finding support from the August LC contract’s steep discount to last week’s cash trade near $117/cwt.  Follow-through buying Tuesday may be scarce considering the weak boxed beef market today and a well-defined downtrend (across June and July highs) on the August LC chart forming resistance below $113.00/cwt.  Choice beef dropped 2.14 to 202.57 and Select lost 1.27 to 191.11.

Lean Hog futures closed lower which has been the general trend for some time.  Pork was stronger today as FOB Plant Pork gained .85 to 91.14 amid strong gains for ribs, hams and bellies. August LH is sitting just above chart support near the April lows just above $77.20.

Corn Sep +5 357; Dec +5 363 (354-63)

Bean Aug +6 1078; Nov +9 1066 (1033-70)

  Meal +4 373

  Oil  +5 3094

Wheat Sep +5 429; Dec +5 454

  KC +6 420; MGE +1 498

Oats +3 207

Rice +24 1076

 

LC Aug +152 11245; Dec +57 11202

FC Aug +160 14117; Oct +180 13917; Jan +185 13305

LH Aug -10 7782; Dec -27 5930

Milk Jly +1 1534; Aug +5 1651
 

US$ -.1%

Dow +16 18533

SP +5 2167

NAS +26 5056

Tran -12 7973

  VIX -.23 12.44

 

WTI -75 4520

Brent -59 4702

Gas -3 139

NG -2 173

HO -2 138

Eth +1 157

Gold +2 1329

Slvr -5 2011

2-yr -.016 0.690%

5-yr -.015 1.130%

10yr -.010 1.583%

30yr -.007 2.295%

Lexington Auction 
Weighted Average Report for 07/18/2016
****Lexington Monday sale now held at Mt. Sterling yards due to fire that destroyed Lexington yards****

   Receipts:  417    Last Week:  645    Year Ago:  584

Compared to last Wednesday steer calves sold mostly steady except 400-500 lbs 3.00 lower with  moderate demand. Heifer calves sold steady to 2.00 lower with moderate demand.  Quality was plain through average.  Yearlings limited comparison.  Slaughter cows and slaughter bulls sold 2.00 lower with moderate demand.

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