Corn and wheat futures closed near unchanged, but soybean prices gained a nice one percent today. All were higher until mid-morning when prices dropped. While soybean futures recovered to close high-range, corn and wheat did not finish strong. Soybeans were supported by fund buying (they are now long soybeans, but very short corn) on technical considerations and the one percent rise in both soymeal and soyoil futures. Soybean oil futures have trended higher since last fall and the May Soybean Oil contract hasn’t been at 34 cents since early July 2015. The nearby Soybean Oil chart has resistance at 35.29. Technically speaking, the May Soybean price rallied through the key 200-day moving average which blocked the rally each of the previous 3 days. May has resistance at 9.175 and 9.29. However, this sharp rally during March has become “overbought” based on the RSI Index, so keep a close eye on the market. Also, the Weekly Nearby Soybean chart has major resistance at $9.20.

Cattle futures closed sharply lower which is the third day of big losses in Live and Feeder cattle futures. Futures tested some key levels (such as early March LC lows) and rallied back some. This could be a good sign that the sell-off is over, but we need to see the boxed beef market and cash cattle price provide support. That didn’t happen today -- Choice carcasses ended down 1.89 at 227.91; Select down 2.67 at 218.00. At midday, Choice was only down .33. Note that the speculators have been very long cattle and hog futures.

Lean Hog futures closed higher and near the day’s highs, bouncing back from Monday’s sharp losses. This afternoon’s Cold Storage Report showed much less frozen pork in stock than traders expected. FOB Plant Pork lost .60 to end at 76.31 due to losses in belly, ham and loin values. However, at midday, FOB Plant was up .60 with strong belly prices. This turnaround may weigh on Lean Hog futures tomorrow.

U.S. financial and commodity markets reacted very little to the deadly terror attack in Belgium. Treasury yields were lower most of the day but turned positive late afternoon.

Corn May unch 370; Jly unch 375; Dec unch 388 (hi 390) Bean May +8 910 (hi 914); Jly +9 917; Nov +8 921 (hi 924) Meal +2 271 Oil +35 3393 Wheat May unch 467; Jly +1 474 (hi 478) KC +2 477; MGE +2 515 Oats unch 190 Rice +3 1040

LC Apr -192 13642 (low 13537); Jun -170 12615; Oct -117 12015 FC Mar -82 16155 (low 16115); May -107 15570; Aug -110 15500 LH Apr +80 7015; Jun +100 8285; Aug +67 8060 Milk Apr -13 1382; May -2 1373

 

US$ +.25% Dow -41 17583 SP -2 2050 NAS +13 4822 Tran -64 8012 VIX +.444 14.23 +3.2%

WTI -7 4145 Brent +5 4159 Gas +4 150 NG +3 186 HO +1 125 Eth unch 139 Gold +5 1249 Slvr +5 1590

2-yr +.021 0.893% 5-yr +.039 1.418% 10yr +.025 1.946% 30yr -.004 2.726%