With a cottonmouth wrapped around one leg, he wrestled a cougar and a feral pig. When other guys experience paralysis, he’ll save the day with insightful analysis, that’s Dan Vaught.
Today marks the end of an era for one of Pro Farmer’s long standing analysts. We want to wish a happy retirement to Dan Vaught. His insight, wit and analysis will be greatly missed
Corn: May corn climbed 2 3/4 cents to $4.60 1/4, which marked a 7-cent gain on the week. Corn futures managed to post gains in a week of volatile, sideways trade.
Soybeans: May soybeans plunged 34 1/2 cents and posted a 46-cent weekly loss. May soymeal closed down $4.90 and plummeted $10.40 on the week, while May soyoil fell 122 points to 45.84 cents and still managed to score a 68-point gain for the week. Soybeans faced extended selling pressure after China’s reprisal to President Trump’s sweeping tariffs, announced midweek.
Wheat: May SRW wheat fell 7 cents to $5.29, near mid-range and on the week up 3/4 cent. May HRW wheat lost 11 1/2 cents to $5.57 1/2, nearer the daily low and for the week were up 5 3/4 cents. The wheat futures markets today saw selling pressure amid a strong risk-off trading day in the marketplace that saw most of the raw commodity sector pounded lower, including crude oil showing strong losses and hitting a four-year low.
Cotton: May cotton futures plunged 144 points to 63.36 cents although closed well off session lows. That marked a 354 point loss on the week. May cotton futures tagged limit down early in today’s session but ended the day a couple cents off session lows.
Cattle: June live cattle fell the daily trading limit of $6.50 to $198.20 and hit a three-week low. For the week, June cattle lost $6.65. May feeder cattle fell the daily limit of $8.25 to $274.875 and hit a four-week low. On the week, May feeders fell $10.30. The cattle futures markets, like most of the rest of the raw commodity sector, were punished late this week by extreme risk aversion that sent most commodity bulls running for cover.
Hogs: Despite their comparative strength versus many other commodity markets, livestock futures took a big hit Friday as traders tried to interpret the impact of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Expiring April hog futures were an exception, settling unchanged at $87.375 as traders look forward to its April 14 expiration. Most-active June hogs plunged $4.00 to $91.55 to end the week; that marked a weekly drop of $4.225. The domestic hog situation still seems supportive, especially with the traditional spring rally likely looming in the coming weeks.