GRAIN CALLS
Corn: 1 cent lower to 1 cent higher.
Soybeans: Steady to 2 cents higher.
Wheat: 2 to 4 cents lower.
GENERAL COMMENTS: Wheat lead weakness overnight with corn following to the downside. Soybeans saw relative strength though selling efforts increased going into the break. Equity futures bounced overnight after heavy selling Friday, thought front-month crude oil futures saw modest selling pressure. The U.S. dollar index is down around 175 points this morning.
USDA reported daily sales of 150,320 MT of corn for delivery to unknown destinations and 136,000 MT of soybeans for delivery to China — each during the 2025-26 marketing year.
The National Weather Service today said a warm-up is in store for much of the central U.S. this week, following a frigid, snowy weekend over much of the region. Meantime, a low-pressure system will bring heavy rainfall to portions of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies today. Lake effect snow should begin to wrap up across the upper Great Lakes this afternoon, and then the lower Great Lakes this evening. The eastern U.S. will see below-average temperatures for much of the region through tonight, before beginning to moderate on Tuesday. Surface high pressure over the Southeast will generate freezing temperatures across the Gulf Coast. Freeze warnings are in effect from southeastern Texas to southern Georgia/northern Florida. Elsewhere, upper ridging in the West will expand east over the coming days. Several temperature records may be tied or broken across the West due to the unusually warm conditions.
Ukraine and the U.S. are due to hold a second day of talks in Berlin on a plan aimed at ending Russia’s war, with allied security guarantees for Kyiv a central focus of the negotiations, reports Bloomberg. About 10 European leaders are also expected to attend a summit today, together with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his team held more than five hours of talks at Germany’s Federal Chancellery on Sunday with U.S. officials led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The sides discussed Ukraine’s territory as the U.S. is backing a Russian demand for Kyiv to withdraw from areas of its eastern Donetsk region that Moscow’s forces have failed to seize since 2014, a person familiar with the matter said. Zelenskiy repeatedly rejected the demand and together with European allies is insisting on a ceasefire along the current line of contact, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues and as reported by Bloomberg.
The U.S. will remove sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilizers, the key source of foreign-currency revenue for the Russia-aligned nation before Western restrictions stifled their flow, Bloomberg reported. President Trump ordered the sanctions lifted, effective immediately, the Belarusian state-owned news agency Belta cited his special envoy, John Coale, as saying in Minsk on Saturday and as reported by Bloomberg. “This is a very good step by the United States for Belarus,” Belta cited Coale as saying following two days of talks in the Belarusian capital. “We are lifting them now.” The U.S. may ease more restrictions as its relations with Belarus normalize, potentially reaching the point where no sanctions will remain, Coale said, according to Belta.
CORN: March corn are trading near recent lows. Support stands at $4.40 then $4.36 3/4. Resistance comes in at $4.42 on strength.
SOYBEANS: January soybeans saw some corrective buying overnight. Bulls are looking to break prices back above the 100-day moving average at $10.79 3/4, while additional strength eyes resistance at $10.93 1/2.
WHEAT: March SRW futures hit a fresh for-the-move low overnight. Support stems from the psychological $5.25 mark then $5.21 1/2. Bulls are eyeing resistance at $5.33 on a bounce.
LIVESTOCK CALLS
CATTLE: Choppy/higher.
HOGS: Choppy/higher.
CATTLE: Live cattle and feeder cattle futures are expected to open with mostly firmer tone in a continuation of recent strength. Futures are now trading modestly above the cash market, which averaged $226.31 through Thursday last week. Those modest premiums indicate uncertainty in the market, which could limit further buying interest. Wholesale beef prices continue to struggle garnering much bullish momentum as choice beef fell another $1.25 to $358.11 while select slid $1.42 to $343.46.
HOGS: Lean hog futures are expected to open higher in a continuation of recent strength, though some profit-taking is possible given the strength of recent gains. Continued strength in the CME lean hog index has encouraged bulls, though a smaller daily increase today could indicate there will be choppy action into the new year. The index is up another 23 cents to $82.80 as of Dec. 11. Pork cutout slid 63 cents to $98.21 Friday, led by losses in hams.