After the Bell | March 24, 2023

Corn: May corn settled 11 1/4 cents higher at $6.43, marking an 8 3/4 cent gain on the week. Corn futures bulls seized the day after failing to break out of this week’s range in the previous session and were able to close above $6.40 for the first time since Feb 27, where the contract failed in the five-day, 50 cent rout.

Soybeans: May soybeans rose 8 3/4 cents to $14.28 1/4 but is down 47 cents on the week. May meal rose $6.80 to $445.10, but down $20.90 on the week, while may soyoil rose 110 points to 53.27 cents, losing 419 points on the week. Soybeans may have found a near-term low after experiencing a near $1.50 selloff from the Feb. 22 high.

Wheat: May SRW wheat futures rose 26 1/2 cents to $6.88 1/2, nearer the session high and on the week falling 22 cents. May HRW wheat gained 28 1/4 cents at $8.48, nearer the session high and for the week rising 12 1/4 cents. May spring wheat futures rose 16 1/4 cents to $8.57 1/2. Short covering was featured in wheat futures markets Friday, with HRW leading the way with May futures hitting a four-week high and producing a technically bullish weekly high close.

Cotton: May cotton fell 104 points to 76.54 cents, losing 121 points on the week. Cotton encountered additional selling efforts following attempts to press higher earlier in the week amid looming global financial concerns.

Cattle: April live cattle futures surged 85 cents to $163.00 at Friday’s close, thereby marking a weekly advance of 67.5 cents. Meanwhile, April feeder futures slid 20 cents to $194.80 at Friday’s settlement; that represented a 15-cent weekly rise. Despite widespread pessimism about the cattle/beef outlook amidst broader financial and economic concerns, cash cattle rebounded this week, with the Monday-Thursday average for the five-market area rising to $164.39, up 28 cents from the week-prior level.

Hogs: April lean hog futures rose $1.425 to $77.175 and nearer the daily high. For the week, however, April futures lost $2.70. The lean hog futures market Friday saw short covering after the recent price downdraft that pushed April futures to a contract low on Thursday.