First Thing Today Audio | September 30, 2021
Corn and soybean futures are trading high range and 1 cent higher in most contracts after a quiet overnight session. Winter and spring wheat futures are also trading in the upper end of their overnight trading range with gains of 3 to 4 cents. Crude oil futures are slightly lower. The greenback hit a new one-year high overnight.
The Quarterly Grain Stocks and Small Grains Summary reports will be released today. These reports have a history of spurring some major market moves. Analysts surveyed by Reuters expect the report to show Sept. 1 corn stocks at 1.155 billion bu., soybean stocks at 174 million bu. and wheat stocks at 1.852 billion bushels. That would be the smallest Sept. 1 stocks figure since 2013 for corn, 2014 for soybeans and 2007 for wheat.
China’s official purchasing manager’s index (PMI) dropped 0.5 points from August to September to a reading of 49.6—below the 50.0 level that separates contraction from expansion for the country’s factory sector. That marks the first dip into contraction territory since February 2020.
At least half the soybean crushing plants in northern and northeastern China have been shut since last week and will stay closed until at least after the National Day holiday on Oct. 1 due to the country’s power outages, a plant manager and a feed purchase manager told Reuters.
Both the Senate (first) and then the House are expected to clear a stopgap spending measure through Dec. 3 today, averting a partial government shutdown. The Continuing Resolution will include an extension of authority for USDA’s livestock price reporting system.
Yesterday afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office said it projects “that, if the debt limit remains unchanged, the Treasury’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will be exhausted, and it will most likely run out of cash near the end of October or the beginning of November.
The Port of Savannah, Georgia, the fourth-largest U.S. gateway for seaborne imports, is trying to clear a backlog of more than 20 container ships that has grown in the waters outside the port, in the latest logjam to hit the country’s swamped supply chains.
Concerns are mounting that the summer surge in beef prices have destroyed demand for beef, with boxed beef values still under pressure. Cash cattle trade picked up mostly around $122 in the Iowa market yesterday, with trade also underway in Kansas and Nebraska from $122 to $124 and Texas seeing cash action mostly around the $124 mark.
Lean hog futures faced some profit-taking pressure on Wednesday, with traders taking advantage of this week’s dramatic gains and strength in the U.S. dollar index. But the trend of the market still clearly favors market bulls.
