Cattle are trading two-sided early as Brad Kooima of Kooima Kooima Varilek says the market is digesting the USDA Cattle on Feed Report. Grains are seeing pressure from a number of bearish factors.

Bryan Doherty, Total Farm Marketing, says grains saw profit taking on Friday after hitting chart resistance and a pick up in farmer selling.

Scott Varilek with Kooima Kooima Varilek says grains ease on profit taking and farmer selling. Cattle make more new highs for the move on hedge lifting and higher cash trade which was generally up $2 yesterday then fade.

Tomm Pfitzenmaier with Summit Commodity Brokerage says corn was pushed Thursday by strong demand with 15.5 million bushels of flash sales and weekly exports of 142 million bushels, the highest in 3 1/2 years.

Rich Nelson of Allendale says corn and soybeans showed resilience rallying into the close on strong demand. However, he thinks it may be exporters front loading their purchases. Cattle reverse in reaction to the McDonald’s E.coli story.

Alan Brugler, A and N Economics, LLC says grains are caught in a tug of war between farmer selling and strong cash basis levels due to strong demand.

Allison Thompson with The Money Farm says corn and soybeans bounced off chart support and are seeing fund short covering but also strong end user buyer with another 14.2 million bushels of corn sold to Mexico.

Dave Chatterton, Strategic Farm Marketing, says row crops are in a tug of war that could keep the markets sideways for a while.

Brad Kooima of Kooima Kooima Varilek says cattle were due for a slight correction and could ease their overbought status just by moving sideways. Grains are rebounding in part due to fresh flash export sales on corn and soybeans.

As agriculture faces multiple challenges, USDA’s latest net farm income forecast is masking the reality for farmers. While livestock margins have improved for 2024, high input costs and below breakeven prices for row crops means margins could be the worst in nearly 20 years.