In the early grain trade – after starting out steady to lower – July Corn is now up 14¢, July soybeans are trading 20¢ higher, and wheat futures are 12¢ to 16¢ higher.
For the week May corn is up 10¢, May soybeans are down 3¢, and wheat futures are 3¢ to 8¢ higher.
The stock market has been very volatile day-to-day, but if you now look at the weekly chart, the Dow is down 500 points or about 1.5%
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation report today showed inflation at 8.3%, compared to 8.5% last month. This suggests to me the Fed will keep pushing short-term interest rates higher. After the release of the inflation report, the U.S. dollar turned higher.
The updated weather forecast this morning is for warm, mainly dry conditions across most of the Corn Belt, while the northern Plains stay wet in the six- to 10- and 11- to 15-day forecasts. It’s more bad news for farmers in northern South Dakota and North Dakota. As one frustrated farmer from North Dakota told me yesterday, if it stops raining tomorrow, he will not get in the fields for 10 days. “Time to talk to my crop insurance lady.”
Livestock futures closed mixed today. June Hogs are down $1.02 at $100.57, June Cattle are up $1.02 at $133.45, and August Feeders closed down $1.02 at $170.82.
About the Author: Al Kluis has been a commodity advisor and broker since 1976. Kluis is an introducing broker with Wedbush Futures and writes a column, Your Profit, which appears in every issue of Successful Farming magazine. Kluis has published two books on commodities trading and is commonly quoted in major publications including the Wall Street Journal. He is also a featured speaker at commodity conferences nationwide. Kluis is a frequent market analyst for the Linder Farm Radio News Network. A Minnesota farm boy, Kluis was awarded his degree in ag economics from the University of Minnesota in 1974, after which he was executive director of the Minnesota Soybean Association before entering the markets full-time. His family still farms in southwest Minnesota, and Kluis enjoys helping with fieldwork when the markets allow.
