Corn, Soymeal Hold Strength into the Close

Corn: The corn market bulls held their own today in the face of bearish outside market forces that included another strong rally in the U.S. dollar index to a 20-year high and a drop in Nymex crude oil prices to a three-month low of $90.56 a barrel, although crude did rebound well off that daily low. Short covering in corn futures was featured today after this week’s big price downdraft.

Soybeans: Soybeans struggled early on lackluster soybean sales and continued discussions of progress on reestablishing grain shipments out of Ukraine. But optimism around an agreement quickly faded as headlines of a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Vinnystia, killing 20 people, including children, were made.

Wheat: Outside markets caused wheat to flounder after the open as the U.S dollar continued to make gains and recessionary fears remained at the forefront of trade. Optimism of a resumption of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea loomed of the wheat complex as Russia and Ukraine officials made constructive comments towards a coming deal.

Cattle: Despite persistent wholesale strength, which saw choice cutout bounce 19 cents to $268.24 after having dropped 46 cents at Wednesday’s close, cattle futures turned downward today. That probably reflected a sizeable setback in Northern Plains fed cattle prices.

Hogs:  The July futures advance strongly suggests the lean hog index will reach that level when Friday’s official quote is published next Tuesday. Given the strong gains posted by the August contract the two previous sessions, traders apparently expect a portion of current strength to persist for another month or so, although the August futures discount to July is now rather substantial at $5.35.