After the Bell | January 24, 2023

Corn March corn futures rose 10 3/4 cents at $6.77 and near the session high. It was a good day for the corn futures bulls, as they were able to recover Monday’s solid losses and keep their overall advantage following last week’s bullish USDA supply and demand report.

Soybeans: March soybeans fell 1 3/4 cents to $14.88 1/2 after trading as high as $15.06 1/2, while March meal dropped $2.10 to $459.80 and March soyoil fell 106 points to 60.98 points. Soybeans surged higher to begin the session, filling the gap created in the overnight session to start the week, but futures turned off their highs shortly after the open.

Wheat: March SRW wheat rose 14 1/2 cents to $7.34 1/2. March HRW wheat gained 14 3/4 cents to $8.33 3/4. Prices closed nearer the session highs. Spring wheat futures rose 15 1/4 to $9.03. The winter wheat futures markets today saw short covering and corrective bounces following Monday’s losses that pushed March SRW futures to a 1.5-year low.

Cotton: March cotton fell 110 points to 86.24 cents, marking a low-range close. Cotton futures retreated in the wake of corrective selling in crude oil futures and absent demand as top consumer, China, is closed for a week-long Lunar New Year holiday.

Cattle: February live cattle futures edged up 37.5 cents to $157.85 Tuesday, while most-active March feeder futures gained 33.5 cents to $183.60. The industry seemed to get the backlog of fed cattle built during the holiday season cleaned up last week, since the weekly kill fell from 661,000 head to 646,000 and the percent annual change fell from 7.0% over year-ago to just 1.4%.

Hogs: Nearby February hog futures slid 47.5 cents to $77.10, while the summer contracts posted larger losses. Large hog slaughter is raising serious questions about the population reduction indicated in the December USDA Hogs & Pigs report.