Grains give back Tuesday’s gains. Wednesday, January 31, 2024

March corn is down 1¾¢.

March soybeans are down 4¼¢.

CBOT wheat is down 7¼¢. KC wheat is down 6½¢. Minneapolis wheat is down 6¢.

“Grain and soybean futures have been unable to mount any follow-through to their Tuesday rally overnight amid renewed pressure from largely weak supply/demand fundamentals,” says The Brock Report. “Soybean futures are again feeling pressure from low Brazilian export prices, while large U.S. supplies and rising South American export competition are again weighing on corn futures. Large Russian wheat supplies and poor export demand for U.S. wheat are again weighing on wheat futures.”

Bob Linneman, commodities broker with Kluis Commodity Advisors, says action by Chinese grain buyers may stifle soybeans.

“We saw headlines yesterday that Chinese grain buyers are making moves to reduce long positions in soybeans, since the large crop in Brazil is looking more and more likely to become a reality,” he says. “If this trend continues, then it will keep a lid on any major rallies in the soybean market until we start trading U.S. weather.”

Live cattle are down 65¢. Feeder cattle are down 85¢. Lean hogs are up 13¢.

Crude oil is down $1.40.

“Wall Street wants a pivot to lower interest rates,” he says. “It’s betting that the first cut will come in May, if not in March. The more dovish members of the FOMC are no doubt making an argument for such in today’s meeting. However, the more hawkish members are arguing that sticky wage inflation and rising housing prices are working against getting the overall inflation rate down to 2% as soon as they would like, suggesting that they should hold rates where they’re at for longer to make sure that it happens.

“They will also argue that the expectations of a pivot emerging out of the December meeting led to new highs for the stock market and a rise in consumer confidence, increasing spending for goods, services and housing, making it even more difficult to get down to the 2% level. They will argue that the above makes it even more critical that they communicate with more of a hawkish tone in both their printed statement and in the press conference if they want to continue to see progress on inflation data.”

S&P 500 futures are down 37 points. Dow futures are up one point.

Tags: corn, soybeans, wheat, futures, live cattle, feeder cattle, lean hogs