By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn closed up 2 1/4 cents and December corn was up 2 cents. July soybeans closed up 7 3/4 cents and November soybeans were up 4 1/4 cents. July KC wheat closed up 2 1/2 cents, July Chicago wheat was down 4 3/4 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was up 2 1/4 cents.
Corn, soybean, and wheat futures were mostly higher once again at midweek, continuing to ride the week's bullish wave as traders factor risk into prices given the ongoing trade disruption in the Persian Gulf. Wheat futures eventually faded from early highs on profit-taking and overbought technical conditions. In regard to the Middle East situation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that only 35 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz during the week ended April 26, compared to roughly 130 per day under normal circumstances. President Trump reportedly plans to keep the U.S. blockade in place, and as a result, crude futures jumped Wednesday for the seventh time in the past eight sessions. In other news, the Federal Reserve voted on Wednesday to hold interest rates steady, which was widely expected. However, there was reportedly notable disagreement on the outlook for rates through 2026, which will remain a story to watch as Fed Chair Powell's term officially comes to a close in May and Kevin Warsh takes the reigns.
LIVESTOCK:
It was a back-and-forth session for the live cattle complex as traders desire to push the contracts higher. However, following Tuesday's successful close and higher rally in the cash market, traders are somewhat holding their breath. A few more deals have been marked in Texas at $256, which is a whopping $10.00 higher than last week's weighted average. At yesterday afternoon's close, prices were mostly being reported at $395 to $396 in Nebraska and Iowa. However, after the mandatory cutout time, price sources were reporting prices as high as $400 which is $14.00 higher than last week's weighted average. But do note that a large percentage of those sales were marked for delivery for the week of 5/11/2026. Southern live cattle were reported at $250 to $252 at the cutoff time, but later sales jumped as high as $255, which is $9.00 higher than last week's weighted average.
The feeder cattle complex also had a challenging day as the market appears to desire to trade higher but following Tuesday's sharp rally. Upon seeing mixed signals in the live cattle complex, traders are being cautious at this point. If the market is to trade any higher, it will look for the technical support of the live cattle complex.
The lean hog complex continues to trade in a back-and-forth manner, but at least today the market was traded higher into midday and held into the closing bell. Today's technical bounce is somewhat surprising given that pork demand has been choppy, and prices are lower at the midday point.