After the Bell | March 29, 2022

Corn: Corn futures followed wheat futures sharply lower Tuesday, with the nearby May contract tumbling 22 1/4 cents to $7.26 1/4 and new-crop December falling 11 3/4 cents to $6.52 3/4. Talk that a cease-fire may be looming in the Russia/Ukraine conflict undercut the commodity markets badly today. Corn joined the wheat and soy complexes in diving in response to the news.

Soybeans: May soybeans closed down 21 1/4 cents at $16.43 and in the lower end of today’s range. Prices also hit a four-week low today. May soybean meal closed down $12.90 at $466.00, nearer the daily low and hitting a three-week low. May bean oil closed down 79 points at 71.66 cents, nearer the session low and scoring a four-week low. Some positive comments from a Russian official during the Ukraine/Russia cease-fire talks helped to send corn and wheat futures sharply lower today, and soybeans followed.

Wheat: Winter wheat futures finished mostly 40-plus cents lower. May SRW wheat fell 42 3/4 cents to $10.14 1/4, while May HRW plunged 46 cents to $10.24 1/2. Spring wheat ended mostly 35 to 36 cents lower, with the May contract down 36 1/2 to $10.43. Wheat futures sharply extended losses at the end of overnight trade on reports of constructive progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. While it’s yet to be determined if this will lead to an actual ceasefire, today’s price action shows how sensitive to headlines the wheat market, in particular, has become.

Cotton: May cotton futures plunged 226 points to 136.81 cents. December cotton dropped 26 points to 111.04 cents. Cotton futures got caught up in the wave of selling tied to renewed hopes of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. All things considered, today’s price action in the cotton market was tame compared to what happened in other markets like grain and soy futures.

Cattle: After declining in response to the Cattle on Feed Report Monday, cattle futures bounced back today. The nearby April live cattle contract rallied 60 cents to $140.90, while most-active June surged $1.70 to $138.475. May feeder futures leapt $4.325 to $169.40. Today’s cattle advance was clearly led by feeder cattle futures, which in turn marked a strong response to big losses in the corn, wheat and soybean complexes.

Hogs: June lean hogs closed down $1.425 at $124.625 and nearer the session high. April lean hogs fell $1.525 at $106.05. The lean hog futures market fell victim to a selloff in much of the raw commodity sector, led by Nymex crude oil that at one point today traded as low as $98.44 a barrel. Profit-taking from recent strong gains and ahead of Wednesday’s USDA Hogs & Pigs Report was also featured in hog futures today.