Grains open higher Tuesday morning then turn mixed, with cattle mostly lower and hogs higher.
Kent Beadle, Paradigm Futures, says grains faded early strength.
Corn made new highs for the move and finally got above $5 on the March or front month contract but then saw farmer selling and profit taking.
If March could close above $5 he says that would open the door to the next areas of resistance which is $5.08 on the charts, the May 2024 highs.
Corn has seen fund buying and strong demand supportive, but last week’s higher wheat market has helped.
Funds have liquidated some length in corn with the CFTC’s Commitment of Traders report showing speculators trimming 31,828 contracts as of Tuesday, bringing their net long down to 332,389 futures and options contracts.
Wheat has been supported by cold weather concerns in the U.S. and Black Sea and posted a higher weekly close in all three exchanges last week.
Funds have been covering shorts but the wheat market has backed off of its early highs running into technical chart resistance and hedge pressure.
Soybeans have also seen hedge pressure on rallies but mostly from South America as the harvest advances.
Spec funds sharply reduced their net long position in soybean futures and options by 28,554 contracts as of February 11. This nearly halved their net long, bringing it down to just 28,475 contracts by Tuesday.
However, the nearby contracts have been able to hold the 50 and 100 day moving averages on the charts.
Cattle futures continue to consolidate as cash trade was down over $4 last week and boxed beef cutouts also slid despite packer kill cuts.
However, Beadle says so far the market is still holding long term chart areas.
Lean hog futures saw early strength and are retesting contract highs after a higher weekly close last week, strong cash and fund buying.
Big speculative traders in the lean hog market added 7,297 contracts to their net long position as of February 11th. This brought their total net long position to 102,626 contracts by Tuesday.
