Once again the USDA reports made a splash in the market.  This time a cut in US corn yield and production surprised traders and resulted in a great amount of short-covering which drove corn future sharply higher. Wheat futures went the opposite direction thanks to higher-than-expected December 1 ^st wheat stocks and 2013/14 ending stocks. USDA also raised World Wheat ending stocks due to higher production and smaller consumption.

March Corn is now back to the level last seen on Christmas Eve.

Soybean futures were trading sharply higher before the USDA report release, but sold off to close only slightly higher in the old crop contracts. USDA reports were in line with expectations.

The USDA report results are printed in this morning’s market update email.

Live Cattle futures closed higher as boxed beef soared even higher.  Choice up 2.93 at 214.98; Select up 2.53 at 211.58/cwt.  The February LC contract didn’t trade above Thursday’s highs, but today’s close is a RECORD HIGH CLOSE.  This strength in boxed beef resulted in feedlots getting $139-140/cwt for fed cattle today – that’s up $2/cwt from last week.

Corn Mar +21 433; Jly +20 447; Dec +17 458 Bean Mar +5 1278; Jly +5 1246; Nov -1 1100 Meal Mar -1 414; Oct -2 341 Oil +27 3823 Wheat Mar -15 569; Jly -13 581 KC -13 626;  MGE -9 620 Oats -8 386 Rice +24 1564

LC Feb +15 13670; Jun +12 13025; Oct -10 13190 FC Jan -50 16865; Apr -107 16855; Aug -60 17067 LH Feb +57 8582; Apr +27 9100; Jun +30 10090 Milk Jan +8 2050; Feb +5 2021

US$ -.4%

Dow -8 16437 SP +4 1842 NAS +18 4175 Tran +86 7466 VIX -.75 12.14  -5.8%

WTI +121 9287 Brent +115 10754 Gas +4 268 NG +7 408 HO +3 295 Eth +4 196

Gold +19 1248 Slvr +47 2015

2-yr -.06 0.39% 5-yr -.13 1.625% 10yr -.11 2.86% 30yr -.08 3.80%

Kentucky Weekly Livestock Summary for January 3-9, 2014 Receipts This Week   Last Week    Last Year 11,487      No Report    31,209

There are no trend comparisons available due to the holiday last week.  Steers and Heifers had good demand with limited supply.  Snow, ice, and extreme cold restricted the movement of cattle and closed some markets early in the week, reducing the number of receipts.  Slaughter Cows and Slaughter Bull had very good demand with limited supply.

Supply:  Slaughter Cows 12 percent; Slaughter Bulls 2 percent; Feeder cattle 85 percent.  In the feeder supply, Steers made up approximately 45 percent and Heifers approximately 37 percent.  Steers and Heifers over 600 lbs totaled approximately 54 percent.  Replacement cattle 1 percent.

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