After the Bell | March 6, 2024
Corn: May corn rose 2 1/2 cents to $4.28 3/4 and closed near the session high. Corn edged sideways in consolidative trade as follow-through selling in SRW wheat curbed buying despite the U.S. dollar extending to more than a one-month low.
Soybeans: May soybeans fell 3/4 cent to $11.48 1/4 and near mid-range. May soybean meal rose 50 cents to $330.40 and near the session high. May bean oil closed up 28 points at 45.32 cents and near mid-range. All three soy futures markets continue to languish at lower price levels.
Wheat: May SRW wheat plunged 20 cents to $5.31, ending near the session close after a move to a fresh contract low. May HRW fell 13 cents to $5.56 1/4, forging a low-range close, while May spring wheat fell 10 1/4 cents to $6.45 1/4. Wheat futures faced a second straight day of notable selling, despite a push to a more than one-month low in the U.S. dollar.
Cotton: May cotton rose 104 points at 95.28 cents but closed nearer the session low. The cotton futures market rallied today amid bullish outside markets that included higher crude oil prices, a solidly lower U.S. dollar index and a rally in the U.S. stock market.
Cattle: Cattle futures set back Wednesday, but the uptrend remains intact. Nearby April live cattle slid 75 cents to $187.25. Nearby March feeder futures dropped $1.275 to $251.025, while most-active April fell $1.30 cents to $255.875. Reports of light Monday trading at $178.00 in Texas seemed to undercut the market at today’s opening, but bears couldn’t sustain the downward pressure.
Hogs: April lean hog futures closed 17.5 cents lower at $85.00, though the various contracts settled well off session lows. Traders continue to actively reduce premiums to the CME lean hog index, indicating a short-term pessimistic view of the hog market that we feel is overdone.
