Another interesting day in commodity and financial markets. Outside markets were mixed and broke with the US Dollar pattern. The US$ soared 1.2%, but energy futures continued to rally today (normally trades inversely). US Treasury yields rose significantly in response to the better-than-expected US January Jobs Report. Livestock futures finally bounced strongly higher with many LC and LH contracts ending up the daily $3.00 limit.

CBOT futures traded pretty wide price ranges today with firm closes in corn and wheat and weak closes in soybeans. The stronger US Dollar weighed on futures. On Monday, traders will be positioning for Tuesday’s USDA WASDE report to see the latest 2015 ending stocks forecasts.

As previously stated, cattle market fundamentals didn’t appear to support the sharp losses experienced lately in cattle futures. Today, cattle futures soared with some LC contracts at $3.00 limit up. Despite weakness in the boxed beef market, fed cattle reportedly sold late today around $162-163, or up $2-3/cwt from last week. Choice beef closed down 2.10 to 239.08 and Select down 1.58 to 233.81. In feeder futures, yesterday’s positive chart signal saw strong follow-through buying today with encouragement from the strong rally in Live Cattle futures. Despite today’s price jump, this week’s price change is about -$5.50. Hopefully, feeder futures can continue to build on today’s rally.

Lean Hog futures beyond the nearby February contract closed sharply higher on short-covering. Lean hogs hit limit-up in the first 15 minutes of trading but dropped back until mid-morning. Then April/May/June LH rallied strongly again to close limit up. The cash markets didn’t fuel the rally as the pork cutout dropped -- FOB Plant Pork down 1.03 to 72.94. The February LH contract expires next Friday the 13th.

Corn Mar unch 386 (380-89); Jly +1 401; Dec +1 417 Bean Mar -8 973 (971-87); Jly -7 985; Nov -5 960 Meal Mar -2 329; Oct -2 315 Oil +11 3182 Wheat Mar +1 527; Jly +3 531 (521-36) KC -2 562; MGE -2 577 Oats -4 283 Rice +29 1074

LC Feb +265 15607; Apr +300 limit 15102; Oct +177 14567 FC Mar +380 19945; May +320 19967; Aug +290 20302 LH Feb +60 6387; Apr +300 limit 6927; Jun +300 8105 Milk Feb +8 1585; Mar +22 1598

US$ +1.2%

Dow -61 17824 SP -7 2055 NAS -21 4744 Tran -34 8932 VIX +.44 17.29

WTI +165 5213 Brent +158 5815 Gas +4 156 NG -3 257 HO +4 184 Eth -1 143 Gold -29 1233 Slvr -51 1669

2-yr +.127 0.647% 5-yr +.179 1.479% 10yr +.142 1.957% 30yr +.107 2.529%

Paris KY, Paris Stockyards Thu Feb 5, 2015 USDA-KY Dept of Ag Market News *Cattle weighed at time of sale.* Cattle Receipts: 915 Last week: 1110 Last year: 485 Compared to last week, Steers sold steady and Heifers steady to 1.00 higher except 400-500 lbs Heifers 2.00 to 4.00 higher. Slaughter Cows were 3.00 to 4.00 higher and Slaughter Bulls 4.00 to 5.00 higher.

Kentucky Weekly Livestock Summary for the week of Jan 30-Feb 5, 2015. Receipts This Week Last Week Last Year 11,004 14,627 14,969 Compared to last week steers and heifers were mostly 3.00-8.00 higher based on limited comparable sales due to light receipts largely correlating with the recent winter weather in the region. Slaughter cows were mostly steady to 4.00 higher, while bulls were 4.00-5.00 higher. All classes of cattle this week were in moderate to good demand, while buyer activity was somewhat lighter in some areas due to light receipts and road conditions which prevented sale attendance for some.

Supply: Slaughter Cows 8 percent; Slaughter Bulls 1 percent; Feeder cattle 87 percent. In the feeder supply, Steers made up approximately 37 percent and Heifers approximately 40 percent. Steers and Heifers over 600 lbs totaled approximately 43 percent. Replacement cattle 4 percent.

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