Old-crop corn and soybean futures are gaining on new-crop futures again today. With USDA updating its WASDE report tomorrow at 11 am CDT, traders are evening up positions but continue with a bias that old-crop supplies are tight enough to keep prices firm. Chicago Wheat futures are giving up part of Monday’s big rally. Some improvement in wheat’s crop condition rating by USDA may have tempered bullishness.     CBOT closes at 1:15 pm CDT; reopens at 7:00 pm CDT.

Cattle futures are mostly steady except for the nearby April contract which is higher on ideas cash trade will improve later this week. Boxed beef values slipped yesterday.

Lean Hog futures are marking time waiting for cash markets to show signs of improvement. See story below for pork’s record price discount relative to beef.

Corn May +9 642; Jly +5 624; Dec +4 536 Bean may +7 1385; Jly +3 1361; Nov unch 1232 Meal May +1 394; Oct -1 342   Oil +1 4953 Wheat May -6 707; Jly -6 711; Dec -6 732   KC Jly -1 751; MGE unch 797 Oats +6 362 Rice +11 1569

LC Apr +77 12705; Aug +20 12295; Dec +5 12860 FC Apr -7 14267; May -2 14472; Aug -5 15170 LH Apr +10 8062; Jun -42 9012; Oct -22 8165 Milk Apr -3 1757; May -7 1855 

US$ -.5% Dow +.1% SP +.1% NAS +.1% Tran -.4% VIX +1.1% 13.34

WTI +.8% Brent +.7% Gas +.9% NG -1% HO unch Eth +1.5%

Gold +1% Slvr +3%

5-yr -.02 0.69% 10yr -.01 1.73% 30yr unch 2.91%

Beef reaches record high price relative to pork   According to CME Group, the ratio of Choice Beef Cutout to the 53-54% Lean Pork Cutout reached a new record high of 2.558 during the week of March 16. The economists point out that this should lead to more pork featuring in the meat case and a rise in pork prices. They also said broiler prices are at or near record levels despite increased production. 

Blue Grass Stockyards Cattle Auction Report for 04/08/2013    Receipts:  2,454   Last Monday:  839   Year Ago:  1,144 Compared to last week, steer calves sold steady to 3.00 lower with moderate demand on an average to good quality offering.  Heifer calves sold steady with good demand on an average to good quality offering.  Slaughter cows sold 1.00 to 2.00 lower with moderate demand.   Slaughter bulls sold 1.00 to 2.00 lower with moderate demand.  Large volume of cattle today due to higher prices last week and good weather over the weekend.

   Total supply included 09% slaughter cows, 01% slaughter bulls, less than 01% replacements and 90% feeders.  Feeder supply 33% steers, 25% bulls, 42% heifers with 43% of feeders weighing over 600 lbs. 

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