Corn Mar -4 382 (381-85); Dec -2 402

Bean Jan -8 900 (899-910); Mar -8 913; Nov -7 949

  Meal -3 308

  Oil +5 2846

Wheat Mar -10 522; Jly -9 537 (536-46)

  KC -9 508; MGE -8 568

Oats unch 286

Rice -3 1050

 

LC Dec -5 11972; Apr -2 12457; Aug +7 11330

FC Jan unch 14620; Apr -15 14480; Aug -27 14890

LH Feb +5 6270; Apr +5 6787; Jun +22 8170

Milk Jan -10 1421; Feb -12 1447

CBOT futures posted bigger losses than we’ve seen in a while, with the closes near the day’s lows. Markets were pressured by disappointment in the amount of soybean sales to China that have been confirmed by USDA. Corn was weighed by weak ethanol margins, rising ethanol stocks and depressed energy futures. Today’s chart action leaned toward a triple top formation, but that could be reversed quickly.

Live Cattle closed mixed with Feeder Cattle posting small losses. Trading ranges were relatively narrow and mostly “inside days” (within Tuesday’s ranges). The trade expects a steady cash cattle market. Choice beef dropped .98 to 211.70 and Select edged up .12 to 204.85. The Cattle on Feed report comes out tomorrow (instead of Friday).

Lean Hog futures managed small gains following sharp losses on Monday and Tuesday. FOB Plant Pork dropped 2.23 to 69.77 with belly and ham values down 3%.  USDA will report the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs inventories tomorrow.  Traders expect a 2.7% increase in the total count compared to a year earlier.

 

The Federal Reserve carried through with its quarter-point increase in its base interest rate (now 2.5%) and reduced the number of rate increases expected for 2019 from 3 to 2. The Fed also said it would continue to reduce the size of its balance sheet at the current pace. The market did not like what it heard, so stock indexes fell sharply. The DOW, SP500 and NASDAQ hit new lows for 2018. CNBC reports that this month is on target to have the worst December performance since 1931.

The drop in the stock market sent money to the US Treasury market, leading those yields sharply lower. The 10-year yield hasn’t been this low since May.

 

US$ steady

Dow -352 23324

SP -39 2507

NAS -147 6637

Tran -298 9148

  VIX unch 25.58

 

WTI +157 4817

Brent +23 5649

Gas +4 139

NG -11 373

HO +5 181

Eth -1 125

Gold +3 1256

Slvr +12 1482

 

2-yr -.004 2.648%

5-yr -.023 2.631%

10yr -.061 2.762%

30yr -.089 2.988%

November Milk Production in the United States up 0.6 Percent

Milk production in the United States during November totaled 17.4 billion pounds, up 0.6 percent from November 2017.  Production per cow in the United States averaged 1,856 pounds for November, 19 pounds above November 2017.  The number of milk cows on farms in the United States was 9.36 million head, 38,000 head less than November 2017, and 8,000 head less than October 2018.

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