Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 4/23/15

Posted 9 years 11 days ago by

Feeder cattle mostly steady; futures lower.
Fed cattle cash trade reporting activity after little activity on the previous day; formula trades higher; futures steady; beef prices mixed.
Cotton steady to lower.
Grains and soybeans mostly lower.
Crude oil higher; natural gas higher.
Stock markets higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices mostly steady , with instances of prices $5 lower to $10 higher. Feeder cattle futures were lower, settling at $212.55 per hundredweight (cwt), $0.10 below the previous day’s closing price. The Texas fed cattle cash trade reported prices of $158 per cwt on Tuesday. Wholesale boxed beef values were mixed, with Choice grade gaining $0.24 and Select falling $0.03, settling at $260.06 per cwt and $249.52 per cwt, respectively. Estimated cattle harvest through Wednesday totaled 330,000 head, up 3K from last week, but down 6K from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is down 1.8%. Fed cattle futures were on par with the previous day’s prices.

Cotton cash prices closed on par with the previous day’s prices. Futures prices were 0.14 cents lower, settling at 62.49 cents per pound.

Corn and grain sorghum prices saw little change, with corn cash and futures prices settling on par with the previous day’s prices, closing at $3.96 per bushel and $3.73 per bushel, respectively. Grain sorghum prices fell $0.01. Soybeans closed $0.04 lower, settling at $9.71 per bushel as international supplies remain strong and prospects for a robust U.S. soybean harvest.

Wheat cash and futures prices were each $0.02 lower, settling at $4.75 per bushel and $5.12 per bushel, respectively. Futures prices ended three straight days of gains at yesterday’s close. Traders are keeping an eye on cold weather in the western U.S.

This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor for Texas showed a slight improvement in drought conditions for the state, with just over 44.5% of Texas still in some stage of drought intensity, down 2.6 percentage points from last week. Additionally, almost 2.6% of the state remains in severe, extreme, or exceptional drought, down almost 0.80 percentage points from last week and almost half of a percentage point from three months ago. On the national level, drought conditions improved, with almost 53.4% of the U.S. experiencing abnormal dryness or some degree of drought, down about 5.4 percentage points from last week.

Stock markets were higher as investors watched the NASDAQ claw its way toward the index’s record high reached in March 2000. Crude oil prices were $0.900 higher, settling at $56.16 per barrel. Monthly U.S. crude inventory numbers are at highs not seen since 1930.

Daily Market Summary Data for 4/23/2015

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