CBOT futures sold off during the morning with old-crop soybeans taking a big hit as news broke that South American soybeans have arrived in New Orleans for import. While May Soybeans couldn’t recover, corn and wheat futures rallied the last hour and a half to close within 2-3 cents of the day’s highs. Wheat closed up one percent as the weather forecasts are not favorable for HRW wheat country.

The 6-10 and 8-14 day forecasts from NWS-CPC show the Corn Belt to remain cooler than normal for 2 weeks with above-normal rain the next 10 days.  Soil temperatures are cooler than normal and rising slowly.

Check out KY Soil Temperatures on KY Mesonet: http://www.kymesonet.org/soil.html

Cattle futures closed mixed with small price changes. Prices dropped at the opening bell and slowly recovered the rest of the day. Cash cattle traded down last week about $3/cwt and boxed beef fell sharply.  Beef values were weaker again today -- Choice down 0.81 at 227.93; Select down 1.38 at 215.99/cwt.

Lean Hog futures headed higher after the opening, peaked at midday and then softened throughout the afternoon.  However, the closing prices were still up nicely at day’s end.  While pork values were higher at midday, they ended up lower than Friday’s quotes.  The upward correction isn’t a surprise given last week’s sharp market losses.

Corn May -2 499; Jly -2 505; Dec -1 505 (500-08) Bean May -10 1464; Jly -7 1448; Nov unch 1208 (1199-1212) Meal May -5 474; Oct unch 382 Oil -14 4143 Wheat May +6 676; Jly +7 683 (672-86) KC +7 746; MGE +4 725 Oats +8 419 Rice -17 1559

LC Apr -2 14302; Jun +12 13492; Oct +60 13750 FC Apr -20 17750; May +32 17885; Aug +27 18050 LH Apr +187 12502; Jun +112 12167; Oct +100 10215 Milk Apr +2 2396; May -47 2149

US$ -.3% 80.20 Dow -167 16246 SP -20 1845 NAS -48 4080 Tran -103 7468 VIX +11.5%  15.57

WTI -40 10074 Brent -69 10603 Gas unch 293 NG +4 447 HO -1 289 Eth -5 236

Gold -6 1297 Slvr -7 1988

2-yr -.02 0.40% 5-yr -.03 1.68% 10yr -.03 2.695% 30yr -.03 3.555%

Blue Grass Stockyards Cattle Auction Report for 04/07/2014 Receipts:  1,141   Last Monday:  1,655   Year Ago:  2,454 Compared to last week steer calves sold 2.00 to 5.00 lower with light to moderate demand on a plain through average quality offering of mostly fleshy unweaned calves.  Heifer calves under 600 lbs sold steady to 1.00 lower with moderate demand, over 600 lbs sold steady to firm with good demand.  Yearling cattle lightly tested.  Slaughter cows 2.00 lower with moderate demand. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 1.00 lower with good demand.

Total supply included 12% slaughter cows, 01% slaughter bulls, 01% replacements and 86% feeders.  Feeder supply 30% steers, 26% bulls, 44% heifers with 22% of feeders weighing over 600 lbs. 

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