Crop markets are mostly lower again Wednesday morning

Crop futures generally continued sliding Tuesday night. The ag industry is focusing upon the likely results of Thursday’s Crop Production and WASDE reports, with huge forecasts for the U.S. corn and soybean harvests likely. Thus, most crop futures sustained their recent downtrends overnight. But, we should probably look for short covering and position squaring starting today. December corn futures inched up 0.25 cent to $3.445/bushel early Wednesday morning, while May lost 0.25 to $3.6525.

The soy complex showed some signs of overnight strength. The expiring September bean and oil contracts rose modestly last night, whereas most other contracts declined slightly. That seemingly reflected persistently robust demand strength, whereas huge new-crop supply prospects continue depressing deferred values. As with corn, look for short-covering to limit losses and/or spark a bounce prior to tomorrow’s reports. November soybean futures rose 1.0 cent to $9.9375/bushel Tuesday night, while October soyoil edged down 0.03 cents to 31.53 cents/pound, and October soymeal slid $0.4 to $352.0/ton.

The wheat markets proved relatively weak. Although Thursday’s production report won’t have much new wheat information (that comes September 30), the WASDE report is expected to boost estimates of the already burdensome global wheat supply. Overnight talk of a potential strike by grain warehouse workers in Argentina did little to support prices. December CBOT wheat sagged 2.75 cents to $5.2475/bushel in early Wednesday action, while December KC wheat dipped 3.0 cents to $6.20/bushel, and December MWE wheat slumped 3.5 to $6.0175.

Cash expectations seem to be boosting cattle futures. Although beef cutouts were mixed Tuesday afternoon, CME cattle traders have apparently decided that cash prices will probably rise again later this week, with their buying pushing futures sharply higher once again. October live cattle futures jumped 1.42 cents to 161.10 cents/pound just after dawn Wednesday, while December futures surged 1.22 to 163.50. October feeder futures leapt 1.62 cents to 229.37 cents/pound, and January feeders soared 1.82 to 221.50.

Hog futures traded mixed Tuesday night. Both cash hog and wholesale values rose strongly yesterday, which seemed to bode well for today’s Chicago action. The nearby October future did sustain Tuesday’s upward momentum, but most other contracts suffered modest losses. That suggests trader concerns about the intermediate-term outlook. October hogs gained 0.37 cents to 106.15 cents/pound in early Wednesday trading, while December tumbled 0.32 to 97.92.

Cotton futures are again bumping up against chart resistance. ICE cotton futures posted a surprising Tuesday rally, which seem to reflect technical buying, as well as short covering ahead of Thursday’s big USDA crop reports. However, they dipped again overnight after test chart resistance associated with their short-term moving averages. December cotton futures declined 0.39 cents to 65.40 cents/pound shortly after sunrise Wednesday, while March futures stumbled 0.30 cents to 65.14.