Today’s closing CBOT prices were for the most part little changed from Thursday’s closes. Monday night the markets will reopen and direction will depend on any rain that falls over the weekend and the latest forecast.  The latest forecasts don’t call for any great relief to the excessively dry conditions.

Live Cattle futures closed slightly lower as the August contract expired today. Cash trade was light.  Boxed beef values: Choice down 0.04 at 195.67; Select down 0.54 at 182.66/cwt.  The nearby October LC contract has developed strong chart support just above $126.50.

Lean Hog futures closed out the week with stronger prices even as the Pork Cutout value dropped sharply.  The cash hog price – October futures spread has narrowed.

Corn Sep -2 495; Dec +.5 482; Jly +1 509

Bean Sep -6 1424; Nov -11 1357; Jly +4 1308 Meal Sep +1 468; Oct -5 428; Dec -6 424 Oil +11 4389 (low 4331)

Wheat Sep +2 643; Dec unch 654; JLY unch 666 KC unch 701;  MGE -4 720

Oats Dec -7 340

Rice Nov +2 1575

LC Oct -17 12680; Feb -15 13165; Apr -27 13272 FC Sep +70 15692; Oct +95 15895; Jan +80 15860 LH Oct +30 8762; Dec +45 8475; Feb +42 8650 Milk Sep +21 1783; Oct +48 1819

US$ +.1% Dow -31 14810 SP -5 1633 NAS -30 3590 Tran -72 6250 VIX +.20 17.01

WTI -115 10765 Brent -96 11420 Gas -4 289 NG -3 359 HO -5 314 Eth -7 239

Gold -17 1396 Slvr -66 2343

2-yr unch 0.40% 5-yr +.04 1.65% 10yr +.02 2.79% 30yr -.01 3.70% Kentucky Weekly Livestock Summary for August 23-29, 2013 Receipts This Week  Last Week    Last Year 21,215     23,064       20,394

Compared to last week, steer and heifer calves sold mostly steady with good demand on an average quality offering.  Yearling steers and heifers sold steady with good demand.  Slaughter cows and slaughter bulls sold about steady with good demand.

Supply:  Slaughter Cows 9 percent; Slaughter Bulls 3 percent; Feeder cattle 86 percent.  In the feeder supply, Steers made up approximately 40 percent and Heifers approximately 38 percent.  Steers and Heifers over 600 lbs totaled approximately 53 percent.  Replacement cattle 2 percent.

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