After the Bell | May 12, 2023
Corn: July corn futures rose 4 cents to $5.86 1/4 and nearer the session high. For the week, July corn fell 10 1/4 cents. Traders on Monday will have quickly digested today’s monthly USDA supply and demand report that showed old-crop corn carryover up 75 million bu. from last month and just above pre-report trade expectations.
Soybeans: July soybeans fell 15 1/2 cents to $13.90, ending 46 1/2 cents lower on the week, while July meal rose $1.50 to $432.90, gaining $6.80 week-over-week. July soyoil ended 163 points lower at 49.52 cents, losing 481 points on the week. Soybeans spent most of the week turning lower, outside of Thursday’s mild gains which were largely underpinned by solid meal strength.
Wheat: July SRW wheat futures rose 7 3/4 cents to $6.35 and nearer the session low. For the week, July SRW lost 25 1/4 cents. July HRW rose 35 1/2 cents to $8.77, hitting a 5.5-month high and closing near mid-range. For the week, July HRW rose 34 cents. July spring wheat futures ended the week at $8.46, which represented a daily advance of 9 1/4 cents and a weekly rise of 10 cents. The feature in the wheat futures markets has been the divergence between HRW and SRW prices, with the nearbys posting a record-high price spread this week.
Cotton: July cotton rose 91 points to 80.53 cents but gave up 337 points on the week. Cotton was able to regain a portion of Thursday’s losses amid mostly neutral May supply and demand data, lending cotton the needed momentum to edge higher following a poor week.
Cattle: June live cattle futures ended the week at $164.40, up $1.45 on the day and $2.475 on the week. August feeder futures leapt $2.90 to a Friday settlement of $228.975; that represented a weekly jump of $7.55. Wednesday’s depressed cash cattle quotes were apparently confined to the Southern Plains, which was probably why cattle futures didn’t react very negatively to the losses Thursday.
Hogs: The lightly-traded May hog contract went off the board at noon (CDT) today having edged up two cents to $76.625. It will cash-settle against today’s official hog index quote after it’s posted next Tuesday. June hog futures rose 22.5 cents to end the week at 84.10. That marked a weekly rise of 32.5 cents. The hog and pork situation seems to be improving seasonally, although the gains seen lately are much smaller than is typically seen at this time of year.
