GRAIN CALLS
Corn: 1 cent lower to 1 cent higher.
Soybeans: 5 to 7 cents higher.
Wheat: Winter wheat 2 to 4 cents higher; HRS steady to 2 cents higher.
GENERAL COMMENTS: Soybeans led strength overnight while wheat reluctantly followed to the upside. Corn saw relative weakness and is trading near last week’s lows. Front-month crude oil futures rose on corrective buying overnight while the U.S. dollar index is around 150 points higher.
President Trump said talks with Iran over an interim peace deal will “work out well,” even as forces clashed again near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump, in a Truth Social post late on Sunday U.S. time, said constant speculation over whether he’ll agree to a deal — which will likely see the two sides extend their ceasefire by around two months, with Iran reopening the strait and the US lifting a blockade of Iranian ports — weren’t helping. “It is MUCH tougher for me to properly do my job and negotiate, when political hacks keep negatively ‘chirping,’” Trump said, “that I should move faster, or move slower, or go to war, or not go to war, or whatever. Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end.” Tensions remain high and the U.S. struck Iranian radar and command-and-control sites over the weekend. The U.S. said it was a “measured” response to “aggressive Iranian actions” including the shootdown of a drone over international waters.
New World Screwworm has been found in a young sheep in Mexico within 31 miles of the U.S. border, USDA reported on Friday. “The detection heightens the risk for America’s beef industry and cattle producers, who have feared for more than a year that the pest would cross into the U.S. and infect livestock after spreading northward in Mexico,” said a Reuters report. This latest detection of the fly was in a six-month-old sheep in Mexico’s Coahuila state, according to USDA data. It was the closest the parasite has come to the U.S. during the most recent outbreak, despite a sprawling effort by USDA and Mexico to contain the pest. “Experts cautioned that if the fly enters the U.S., it could further spike record beef prices by keeping more calves out of the U.S. cattle supply. An outbreak in the U.S. could cause $1.8 billion in damage to Texas’ economy alone, according to a USDA estimate,” said the Reuters report.
CORN: July corn futures hit a fresh for-the-move low overnight. Support stands at $4.45 1/2 then $4.40 on continued selling pressure. Resistance at $4.50 comes into play on a corrective bounce.
SOYBEANS: July soybean futures led strength overnight. Resistance stands at $11.96 then $12.00 on continued strength. Support lies at $11.92 1/4 then last week’s low of $11.85 1/4 on resurgent selling pressure.
WHEAT: July SRW wheat consolidated near last week’s lows. Support comes in at $6.09 1/4 then $6.06 on persistent selling. Resistance stands at $6.20 on a bounce.
LIVESTOCK CALLS
CATTLE: Choppy/lower.
HOGS: Choppy/higher.
CATTLE: Cattle futures are expected to open with a mostly weaker tone in a continuation of recent selling pressure. Cash trade remained very light into Friday trade, providing little direction to the futures market. USDA will release last week’s cash average mid-day, which will give insight into whether weaker futures trade weighed on the cash market. Choice beef slid 85 cents to $391.47 Friday, extending the recent slide.
HOGS: Hog futures are expected to open with a mostly firmer tone supported by technical buying. Friday’s selloff stalled near last week’s low of $99.35, which could limit further selling. Bears remain in firm control of the technical advantage. Meanwhile, the CME lean hog index continues to bounce, rising another 34 cents to $90.92 as of May 28. Pork cutout rose 34 cents to $99.45 Friday, led by strength in loins.