Corn: May corn rose 4 1/2 cents to $4.65 1/4, closing nearer the session high. Corn futures held onto gains into the close amid general short-covering across the ag complex despite lacking outside market support.
Soybeans: May soybean futures climbed 10 1/4 cents to $10.10 3/4 but closed near mid-range. May meal futures rallied $6.9 to $307.1. May bean oil slid 40 points to 41.28 cents. Soybean futures posted impressive gains today on corrective buying following yesterday’s move near this year’s lows.
Wheat: May SRW wheat rose 8 1/2 cents to $5.62 1/2, near mid-range and hit a two-week high. May HRW wheat gained 14 1/2 cents to $5.87 1/2, nearer the daily high and hit a two-week high. The winter wheat futures markets posted good rebounds from Wednesday’s selling pressure, to keep hopes alive that prices in early March put in near-term bottoms.
Cotton: May cotton futures fell 45 points to 66.53 cents, marking a low range close. Cotton futures gave up a portion of Tuesday’s gain as traders took advantage of the highest prices in a couple weeks.
Cattle: April live cattle rose 65 cents to $202.05, near mid-range and hit a six-week high early on. May feeder cattle fell 35 cents to $281.525, near the session low after hitting a contract high early on. Technical buying from the speculators was featured in the live and feeder cattle futures markets early on today as the charts remain fully bullish and cash cattle market fundamentals remain overall solid.
Hogs: Worries about the tariff/trade situation seemed to undercut hog futures Thursday. The nearby April contract fell 87.5 cents to $85.625, while the deferred contracts fell more significantly. Current hog market fundamentals still seem quite supportive of the short-to-intermediate term outlook, especially with the traditional spring rally likely coming as slaughter rates and pork production sag toward annual lows in early summer and grilling season looms.