Recent Livestock Analysis
Identifying Mispricing in Ag Futures: Corn, Soybeans Offer Opportunity
Readers will likely be familiar with WPI’s work over the past month or so exploring mispricing opportunities in agricultural futures. WPI’s work in this area seeks to identify (for the major agricultural commodities) where along the forward curve current futures prices have the grea...
Exceeding Expectations, Perhaps on a Thread
Commodity markets opened mostly in the red but managed a turnaround late in the session for corn, beans and wheat. There was not much fundamentally driving the market. Export sales were solid but there have been no new flash sales reports for several days. By contrast, equity markets opened mix...
U.S. and Canadian Livestock Inventories
Yesterday, NASS and Statistics Canada released the 1 July cattle inventory in the two countries. Combined, the inventory was 106.1 million head, which was down to 99 percent of 2023 (the USDA suspended the July inventory report in 2024 due to budget constraints) and down to 92.4 percent of 2020...
Market Commentary: Bears Control Grains while Bulls Dominate Livestock, but will the Trends Hold?
Trade in ag futures was a tale of two cities, with grains sinking into the red while the livestock markets rallied to fresh highs. Grains and oilseeds saw pressure from lackluster technical conditions and, for corn and wheat, expectations of ample domestic and global supplies. Soybeans saw weak...
Summary of Futures
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.06/bushel, down $0.035 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.2425/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close. Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.475/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $288.2/short ton, down $5.1...
Market Commentary: Soybeans Firm on Trade Visit; Bullish Feedback Loop for Cattle
The CBOT saw early pressure develop after the USDA Crop Progress and Conditions report was more favorable than expected for corn, soybeans, and wheat. Despite some dryness and uneven weather over the past few weeks, conditions ratings were generally steady, and – surprisingly – in t...
Summary of Futures
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.095/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.3175/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close. Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.495/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $293.3/short ton, up $2.4 fro...
New World Screwworm Human Case
Livestock Industry Margins
Beef packer margins improved for the third straight week, adding more than $100/head to profits on fresh record highs in the beef market. Margins are now around -$80/head, still very low by post-2010 standards but a sharp improvement from recent losses. The broad strength across beef markets &m...
Market Commentary: Technical Trade Drives CBOT as Markets Eye Yields, First Notice Day
Friday’s market fireworks faded a bit on Monday as traders took the opportunity to rest and reassess fundamentals. There were no particularly big news items over the weekend to drive a big swing in markets, which meant that a lull was almost bound to follow last week’s large moves i...
Summary of Futures
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.1225/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.2975/bushel, up $0.025 from yesterday's close. Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.4775/bushel, down $0.1075 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $290.9/short ton, down $0...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
Friday’s CFTC report showed managed money traders paring back their slightly bearish combined bets across the ag space for the second straight week. The move came amid short covering in the soy complex and corn, where technical momentum turned higher. Funds are now essentially neutral acr...
Identifying Mispricing in Ag Futures: Corn, Soybeans Offer Opportunity
Readers will likely be familiar with WPI’s work over the past month or so exploring mispricing opportunities in agricultural futures. WPI’s work in this area seeks to identify (for the major agricultural commodities) where along the forward curve current futures prices have the grea...
Exceeding Expectations, Perhaps on a Thread
Commodity markets opened mostly in the red but managed a turnaround late in the session for corn, beans and wheat. There was not much fundamentally driving the market. Export sales were solid but there have been no new flash sales reports for several days. By contrast, equity markets opened mix...
U.S. and Canadian Livestock Inventories
Yesterday, NASS and Statistics Canada released the 1 July cattle inventory in the two countries. Combined, the inventory was 106.1 million head, which was down to 99 percent of 2023 (the USDA suspended the July inventory report in 2024 due to budget constraints) and down to 92.4 percent of 2020...
Market Commentary: Bears Control Grains while Bulls Dominate Livestock, but will the Trends Hold?
Trade in ag futures was a tale of two cities, with grains sinking into the red while the livestock markets rallied to fresh highs. Grains and oilseeds saw pressure from lackluster technical conditions and, for corn and wheat, expectations of ample domestic and global supplies. Soybeans saw weak...
Summary of Futures
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.06/bushel, down $0.035 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.2425/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close. Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.475/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $288.2/short ton, down $5.1...
Market Commentary: Soybeans Firm on Trade Visit; Bullish Feedback Loop for Cattle
The CBOT saw early pressure develop after the USDA Crop Progress and Conditions report was more favorable than expected for corn, soybeans, and wheat. Despite some dryness and uneven weather over the past few weeks, conditions ratings were generally steady, and – surprisingly – in t...
Summary of Futures
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.095/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.3175/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close. Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.495/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $293.3/short ton, up $2.4 fro...
New World Screwworm Human Case
Livestock Industry Margins
Beef packer margins improved for the third straight week, adding more than $100/head to profits on fresh record highs in the beef market. Margins are now around -$80/head, still very low by post-2010 standards but a sharp improvement from recent losses. The broad strength across beef markets &m...
Market Commentary: Technical Trade Drives CBOT as Markets Eye Yields, First Notice Day
Friday’s market fireworks faded a bit on Monday as traders took the opportunity to rest and reassess fundamentals. There were no particularly big news items over the weekend to drive a big swing in markets, which meant that a lull was almost bound to follow last week’s large moves i...
Summary of Futures
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.1225/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.2975/bushel, up $0.025 from yesterday's close. Nov 25 Soybeans closed at $10.4775/bushel, down $0.1075 from yesterday's close. Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $290.9/short ton, down $0...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
Friday’s CFTC report showed managed money traders paring back their slightly bearish combined bets across the ag space for the second straight week. The move came amid short covering in the soy complex and corn, where technical momentum turned higher. Funds are now essentially neutral acr...