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Overnight highlights. Following are highlights of overnight trade (as of 6:40 a.m. CT) and opening livestock calls:
Corn: 3 to 6 cents lower. Corn is seeing light profit-taking this morning, remaining within the boundaries of the consolidation range. December corn is pivoting around $8.00 this morning. Yesterday’s progress report showed 10% of the crop has been harvested and rains moving across the Corn Belt over the weekend and again this morning could slow progress, which is a concern given weak stalks. Soybeans: 6 to 10 cents lower. Soybean futures have been in a narrowly traded range so far today amid a lack of fresh news. Pressure is being limited by yield concerns and continued purchases by China, but finding fresh buying interest at these price levels is getting more difficult as the “easy money” has already been made. But while Argentina has seen recent rains improve soil moisture, areas of Brazil still need more rains to encourage farmers to begin planting. Wheat: 3 to 6 cents lower. Futures are weaker this morning on spillover from neighboring pits. Futures settled well off session highs yesterday due to varied demand signals. While some purchases of U.S. wheat have been made recently, Egypt again snubbed the U.S. on its weekend purchase -- signaling U.S. prices are not competitively priced.
Live cattle: Steady to firmer. Futures are expected to find support this morning from a solid start to the week for the beef market, which signals strong weekend clearance, as well progress in relaxing export restrictions in Japan. A Japanese government advisory panel on food safety agreed on recommendations about easing U.S. beef imports. This is a significant step toward lifting restrictions that remain a sore spot in Japan-U.S. trade relations. Lean hogs: Steady to weaker. Futures are called weaker based on concerns about building supplies. Pork cutout values slipped 85 cents yesterday, signaling supplies are a burden to the pipeline. The cash hog market was as much as $2.50 lower yesterday, which was steeper than expected given plentiful supplies. Steady to $1 lower bids are expected this morning.
