Thanks to disappointing rains in southern Argentina over the weekend and an export sale to China, old-crop soybean futures soared. Corn and wheat futures benefitted from the soybean rally until the pits opened at 930 am CT. Corn futures continue to battle very weak export sales and fund liquidation. Wheat futures closed lower but CBOT wheat recovered 6 cents off the day’s lows. A big snow storm across the Plains will provide needed moisture (30 mph winds will make awesome drifts).

March soybeans quickly moved back toward the $15.00 area of chart resistance. March Corn has chart support at $6.78. July Wheat sits a dime above last week’s low of $7.32.

Livestock futures traded mostly lower today as traders remain concerned about domestic demand and for exports. Today, traders talked about the possibility that China (a bigger customer than Russia) might follow in Russia’s footsteps regarding banning U.S. red meat that has traces of the growth promotant ractopamine. The industry has encouraged the U.S. government to pressure Russia to follow WTO rules.

The winter storm has the potential to slow weight gains and marketings of cattle and hogs.

Beef cutout values gained about 50 cents/cwt today and the Pork Cutout jumped $1.48 to $81.48/cwt.

Corn Mar -3.5 695; Jly -5 680; Dec -5 558

Bean Mar +46 1470; Jly +41 1445; Nov +13 1275 Meal Mar +16 425; Oct +3 350.5   Oil +91 5253

Wheat Mar -10 732; Jly -9 742   KC -8.5 769; MGE -8 816

LC Feb -10 12640; Apr -90 12955; Oct +20 13075 FC Mar -20 14317; Apr -45 14617; Aug -47 15642 LH Apr -120 8305; Jun -97 9197; Oct -100 8225 Milk Feb +4 1727; Mar -3 1727

Oats -1 378 Rice +8.5 1592

US$ -.2% Dow +54 14036 SP +11 1531 NAS +22 3214 Tran +74 6021   VIX -.15 12.31

WTI +80 9666 Brent -7 11731 Gas -2 312 NG +12 327 HO -2.5 318.5 Eth +1.5 237

Gold -5 1604 Slvr -44 2941

2-yr +.016 0.278% 5-yr +.025 0.889% 10yr +.030 2.029% 30yr +.046 3.207%

Blue Grass Stockyards                                          Cattle Report for 02/19/2013 Receipts:  635   Last Tuesday:  1,402   Year Ago:  1,253   Compared to Monday, steer calves sold steady with moderate to good demand in a light test.  Heifer calves sold steady to 2.00 lower in a light test with moderate demand.  Yearling steers sold steady compared in a very light test compared to last week.  Yearling heifers no test.  Slaughter cows and slaughter bulls sold steady with good demand.

   Total supply included 06% slaughter cows, less than 01% slaughter bulls, less 02% replacements and 92% feeders.  Feeder supply 30% steers, 28% bulls, 42% heifers with 43% of feeders weighing over 600 lbs. 

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