CBOT futures posted small gains on the day.  Corn and soybean futures have put together a strong 5-trading day rally.  Weather is generally supportive with wet conditions delaying corn planting and wheat harvest in Argentina and dry weather in the U.S. hurting winter wheat’s establishment. Hope for improved export business out of the U.S. also limited selling. A sign of improvement in the Chinese economy helps.

 Winter Wheat is rated 33 pct good/excellent, down 1 point from last week and compares to 52 pct a year ago.   WW rated poor/very poor is 26 pct, up 2 points from last week and compares to 13 pct a year ago.  Rain is desperately needed in the Plains states. The Kansas City HRW contract should be the market leader.

 Cattle futures closed moderately lower on profit-taking.  This is not surprising given last week’s sharp rally in live cattle and feeder cattle futures.  Also, last week, fed steers brought $2/cwt more money ($127-128) than the previous week.

  Lean hog futures closed steady to lower on a lack of bullish cash market news.  Lean Hog futures are sitting at lofty levels; the rally from the September 2012 lows has been impressive.

Corn Dec +2 747; Mar +1.5 751; Dec’13 +3.5 629

Bean Jan +6 1425; Mar +9 1412; Nov +11 1296 Meal Dec +3 432; Oct +6 369   Oil +23 4927

Wheat Dec +1 849; Jly +5 859   KC +6 884; MGE +1 915

LC Dec -55 12840; Apr -60 13585; Jun -35 13192 FC Jan -52 14735; Apr -40 15155; Aug -52 15662

LH Dec unch 8247; Feb -40 8697; Jun -17 10085

Milk Dec -13 1908; Jan -23 1860

Oats unch 369

Rice -11 1492 

US$ steady

Dow -42 12967

SP -3 1406

NAS +10 2977

Tran +33 5084

VIX +.36 15.50

WTI -49 8779

Brent -54 11084

Gas -2 273

NG -16 374.5

HO -3 304.5

Eth +1.4 240.6

Gold -2 1750

Slvr +5 3417

2-yr -.004 0.270% 5-yr -.021 0.669% 10yr -.027 1.666% 30yr -.027 2.803%