Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 3/30/15

Posted 9 years 243 days ago by

• Feeder cattle steady to $15 higher; futures lower.
• Fed cattle cash trade inactive; formula trades higher; futures higher; beef prices mixed.
• Cotton mixed.
• Grains and soybeans mostly higher.
• Crude oil lower; natural gas lower.
• Stock markets mostly higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices steady to $15 higher. Feeder cattle futures closed $0.74 lower at $216.71 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was inactive on Friday. Wholesale boxed beef values were mixed, with Choice grade closing $0.13 higher at $250.80 per cwt and Select grade down $0.25 to close at 246.96 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 531,000 head, up 13K from the previous week, but down 57K from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is down 9.7%. Fed cattle futures closed $1.02 higher at $162.70.

Cotton cash prices were 1.00 cent lower at 60.13 cents per pound, but futures settled 0.47 cents higher at 63.55 cents per pound, gaining support from a weaker dollar index.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were mostly higher, with cash prices up $0.12 and futures up $0.09, respectively. Corn futures prices remained unchanged at $3.91 per bushel. Soybean futures were lower, with South American harvest approaching completion.

Wheat futures prices closed $0.10 higher at $5.53 per bushel, but cash prices stayed unchanged at $5.06 per bushel. The weaker dollar gave support to wheat prices.

Stock markets closed mostly higher, but still reporting their biggest weekly losses since January. Crude oil prices closed $2.56 lower at $48.87 per barrel, reversing gains made over the previous five sessions. Decreased concerns about intervention in Yemen and positive reports on a nuclear deal with Iran contributed to the lower prices.

Daily Market Summary Data for 3/30/2015

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