After the Bell | April 6, 2023

Corn: May corn futures closed 9 1/4 cents lower at $6.43 1/2, down 17 cents on the week. May corn futures stacked four red closes in a row in this shortened trading week as futures revisit the $6.40 area.

Soybeans: May soybeans fell 18 1/2 cents to $14.92 1/2, ending the session below the 40-day moving average and is down 13 cents on the week. May meal rose $3.70 to $454.30, while May soyoil ended 69 points lower at 54.53 cents. Soybeans extended Wednesday’s pressure overnight which intensified at the open following USDA’s lackluster export sales data.

Wheat: May SRW wheat fell 6 1/2 cents to $6.75 1/2, near the daily low and for the week falling 16 3/4 cents. May HRW wheat futures rose 3 cents to $8.64 1/2, nearer the session low and for the week dropping 13 1/4 cents. Spring wheat futures fell 1 1/2 cents to $8.72. The winter wheat futures bears had the better week as the upside leadership provided by HRW sees that market losing some strength as evidenced by the close today near the weekly low—and down almost 40 cents from this week’s high.

Cotton: May cotton rose 213 points to 83.20 cents, ending the session above the 100-day moving average and is up 42 cents on the week. Cotton edged higher for the second straight session, extending gains above the 40-day moving average despite moderate export sales data and little support from outside markets.

Cattle: Expiring April live cattle futures jumped $2.675 higher to $171.075 at Thursday’s close, while most-active June futures leapt $2.80 to $163.10. The latter represented a weekly gain of 97.5 cents. Nearby April feeder futures soared $2.80 to $200.625, while May feeders rocketed up $3.30 to $205.40, which marked a gain of 15 cents from last Friday’s close. News that cash cattle had traded actively in the $170.00 area in the south and up to $178.00 in the north Wednesday afternoon caused cattle and feeder futures to gap higher on Thursday’s opening and follow through to the upside.

Hogs: June lean hog futures fell 20 cents to $88.175 after hitting a contract low in early trading. For the week, June hogs lost $3.45. It was another dreadful week for the lean hog futures market bulls. With the charts still fully bearish, look for the speculative bears to lean on the market again early next week, as there are no solid, early chart clues to suggest a market bottom is close at hand.