Grains close higher Friday, cattle mixed, equity markets are higher.
Tommy Grisafi with Nesvick Trading Group says corn made new highs for the move and new highs for the year, with the March contract closing above technical resistance of $4.80.
Corn continues to see bull spreading indicating underlying demand and that has been more evident since the USDA tightened ending stocks to 1.54 billion bu.
Grisafi says the funds have expanded their long position in corn and he thinks they could continue to push to a record long of over 400,000 contracts.
Soybeans followed corn but got some help from higher soybean meal on the heels of a deteriorating crop in Argentina with the BAGE pegging 21% of the crop poor to very poor, up 8% from last week.
There are rains forecast for the weekend in Argentina that could be very beneficial for production but the amounts were dialed back during the session which pushed corn, soybeans and meal higher.
Support also came from reports of Chinese President Xi and Trump having a good phone call.
He says the rally in grains was impressive considering the uncertainty surrounding South American weather over the three day weekend and a new administration taking office on Monday.
Grasafi expects increased volatility ahead in all of the markets especially with the fear of a tariff battle on day one.
However, the new Treasury Secretary nominee suggested the possibility of making China uphold the Phase I deal or strike a new deal.
He says the bond and financial markets were trading with a risk on attitude on Friday and perhaps confidence in the business climate under the Trump administration.
Cattle futures try to recover Friday after two down days and in the face of record cash.
Cash was mostly $200 to $201 live in the South, a mostly steady trend with instances of $1 higher.
Meanwhile the North traded $322 dressed, up $2 and $203 to $206 live prices.
So do the cattle futures look toppy?
Grisafi says its hard to call a top just yet but certainly the stalling of the cash in the South may have disappointed the bulls.
