Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 5/14/15

Posted 9 years 198 days ago by

Feeder cattle mostly steady; futures higher.
Fed cattle cash trade inactive on Wednesday; formula trades lower; futures higher; beef prices higher.
Cotton higher.
Grains and soybeans mostly higher.
Crude oil lower; natural gas higher.
Stock markets slightly lower.

The Texas fed cattle cash trade remained inactive on Wednesday. Wholesale boxed beef values were higher, with Choice grade gaining $2.21 and Select grade gaining $1.36, settling at $263.17 per cwt and $249.11 per cwt, respectively. Estimated cattle harvest through Wednesday totaled 339,000 head, up 10K from last week, but down 16K from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is down 4.5%. Fed cattle futures were $0.50 lower than the previous day’s prices.

Cotton cash prices closed 0.75 cents higher than the previous day’s prices. Futures prices were also 0.75 cents higher, settling at 65.02 cents per pound.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were mixed, with corn cash prices settling $0.01 higher, closing at $3.87 per bushel. Corn futures prices fell $0.01 to close at $3.56 per bushel. Grain sorghum prices gained $0.02 to settle at $6.92 per cwt. Soybeans closed $0.08 higher, settling at $9.75 per bushel after two sessions of losses.

Wheat cash and futures prices were $0.03 and $0.02 higher, respectively, settling at $4.66 per bushel and $5.10 per bushel, respectively.

This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor for Texas showed a significant improvement in drought conditions for the state, with just over 35.5% of Texas still in some stage of drought intensity, down almost 4.75 percentage points from last week. Additionally, 7.7% of the state remains in severe, extreme, or exceptional drought, down 7.8 percentage points from last week and over 17 percentage points from three months ago. On the national level, drought conditions improved slightly, with almost 55.85% of the U.S. experiencing abnormal dryness or some degree of drought, up more than 2.50 percentage points from last week, but with lower percentages of areas experiencing moderate-to-exceptional drought conditions.

Stock markets were mostly lower yesterday, although markets seeing losses saw only minor price declines. Crude oil prices were $0.250 lower, settling at $60.50 per barrel. The number of rigs actively drilling for oil in the U.S. has declined steadily for the past 22 weeks, but global supply remains quite high.

Daily Market Summary Data for 5/14/2015

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