GRAIN CALLS
Corn: 6 to 8 cents lower.
Soybeans: 11 to 13 cents lower.
Wheat: 5 to 7 cents lower.
GENERAL COMMENTS: Corn and soybeans hit contract highs overnight before turning lower. Wheat saw consolidation as well. In corn and beans, each pullback over the last couple weeks has been limited by the prior day’s low, which remains a key benchmark in the ongoing steep uptrends. Overnight weakness has typically been bought as well. A shift in that trend could be a signal an interim top could be in place. Front-month crude oil futures pulled back overnight from recent highs, while the U.S. dollar index is up around 80 points.
USDA reported daily sales of 202,000 MT of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2026-27 marketing year.
Fighting between the U.S. and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz has escalated, with Tehran accusing American forces of bombing a residential area in a wave of overnight strikes. “The U.S. military carried out its second round of attacks in three days, which U.S. Central Command said targeted radar systems and mine-laying capabilities along Iran’s southern coast. This prompted the Islamic Republic to retaliate with drone and missile volleys on U.S. bases across the Middle East, in line with tactics used throughout the six-month war,” said a Bloomberg report. President Trump downplayed the chances of a peace deal, saying in a post on Truth Social that he’s “not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table. I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement,” he said. “I like our position now much better.”
The National Weather Service today said showers and severe thunderstorms will develop over the northern Rockies/northern High Plains. The upper Midwest into the Great Lakes will see showers and thunderstorms will develop along a boundary over the Northeast westward into the Northern Plains. Showers and severe thunderstorms will develop in the upper Mississippi Valley on Thursday. Additionally, showers and severe thunderstorms will develop over parts of the Ohio Valley, central Appalachians, and mid-Atlantic on Thursday. Heat will build over parts of the middle Mississippi Valley, the Ohio/Tennessee Valleys, and the mid-Atlantic today into Friday. In response, heat advisories have been posted over the aforementioned regions. Meantime, monsoonal moisture will start to increase today over parts of the Southwest, producing showers and thunderstorms. By Thursday, the showers and thunderstorms will increase in areal coverage and intensity, producing heavy rain.
USDA on Tuesday said it is launching a pilot project aimed at improving its U.S. crop acreage and yield estimates, a move that will rely more on technology. The announcement by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins discussed the modernization plan at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, after a month-long series of listening sessions. “We will conduct a pilot to evaluate the use of improved satellite imagery, working with NASA and other federal government agencies across the country to figure out how we can make this reporting more accurate,” Rollins said during the farm conference, Reuters reported. Under the plan, the project will use geospatial tools and crop models alongside farmer polls to estimate crop acreage and yields, the report said. The department also said it would explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
CORN: December corn hit a fresh high before sellers re-emerged. Support comes in at yesterday’s low of $5.34 1/4. Resistance stands at the contract high of $5.49.
SOYBEANS: November soybeans hit a fresh contract high before turning lower overnight. Bulls are looking to hold prices above $13.00, which is reinforced by support at yesterday’s low of $12.90. Resistance stands at the contract high of $13.24.
WHEAT: December SRW wheat continue to trade sideways. Bulls are looking to maintain support at $7.55 3/4 on additional selling pressure while staunch resistance holds at the contract high of $7.92 1/4.
LIVESTOCK CALLS
CATTLE: Choppy/lower.
HOGS: Choppy/higher.
CATTLE: Live and feeder cattle futures are expected to open with a mostly weaker tone in a continuation of recent selling pressure. Prices have consolidated over the past week in an apparent bear-flag on the daily bar chart. The bearish consolidation pattern would be negated with a close over $214.00. A push higher would likely need to be led by the cash market, but trade has been slow to develop so far this week. Choice beef rose $3.93 to $379.75 Tuesday, further bolstering packer margins.
HOGS: Lean hog futures set back yesterday after two days of solid gains. Bulls defended key support yesterday which pulled prices from intraday lows. That confirmation of support could limit the downside again today. The CME lean hog index is down another 29 cents to $90.58 as of Aug. 31, extending the seasonal decline. Pork cutout rose 23 cents to $97.90 Tuesday, led by gains in butts and hams.