Grains are all higher early Friday as well as hogs and crude oil, while cattle fall.
Darin Newsom, Sr. Market Analyst with Barchart says some of the support in the grain markets is coming from election jitters and positioning.
With both candidates talking about renegotiating USMCA and Trump threatening a huge increase in tariffs the market is seeing some uncertainty and some funds may be covering recent shorts and heading for the sidelines.
However, he says demand is also supportive especially on the export front for corn.
Private exporters reported more big flash sales as Mexico bought 30.8 million bushels of corn with 28.2 million of it for this 2024-25 marketing year.
China and unknown destinationals also bought over 12 milllion bushels of soybeans again for 2024-25.
Soybean oil is making near term highs following contract highs in palm oil but also getting some surprise help from a rare 30,000 metric ton sale of bean oil to India.
Newsom says there is also geopolitical concern coming from the Middle East war that may be supporting especially wheat and crude oil.
He says live and feeder cattle look toppy or at least tired, with the reversal in December live cattle and just steady cash in the South this week and steady/weak trade in the North.
However, he says the cattle market may be a mirror of the S&P 500 which put in a bearish monthly reversal on Thursday.
Newsom says that could have been profit taking or again pre-election concerns but it bears watching because the chart action is often a signal of a high.
