Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 01/24/17

Posted 7 years 307 days ago by

Feeder cattle auction reported prices $2 to $5 higher; Futures lower.

Fed cattle cash trade inactive; Formula trades higher; Futures lower; Beef prices uneven.

Cotton prices lower.

Grains and soybeans lower.

Milk futures lower.

Crude oil higher; Natural gas higher.

Stock markets higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions reported prices $2 to $5 higher. March Feeder cattle futures were 50 cents lower, closing at $130.17 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was inactive today. February Fed cattle futures were 58 cents lower to close at $119.67 per cwt. Wholesale boxed beef values were uneven, with Choice grade losing 3 cents to close at $191.74 per cwt and Select grade gaining $1.34 to close at $188.17 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 226,000 up 46,000 from last week and 3,000 from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is up 1.4%.

Cotton prices were lower with cash prices losing 1.00 cents to close at 71.75 cents per pound and March futures losing 1.06 cents to close at 73.57 cents per pound.

Corn prices were lower with cash prices losing 6 cents to close at $3.54 per bushel and March futures losing 7 cents to close at $3.63 per bushel. Grain Sorghum cash prices were 12 cents lower, closing at $5.40 per cwt.

Wheat prices were higher with cash and March futures both losing 3 cents to close at $3.32 per bushel and $4.42 per bushel, respectively.

Milk prices were lower with February Class III futures losing 6 cents to close at $16.70 per cwt.

Stock markets were higher today, gaining back some ground, behind gains in material and financial shares. March Crude oil futures were up 43 cents to close at $53.18 per barrel. Crude oil prices rebounded from recent declines as confidence that all of the major oil producing nations will stick to the production cutting measures agreed upon earlier this year.

Daily Market News Summary Data 01/24/17

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From Agri-Pulse:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2017 - President Donald Trump today officially pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact that the Obama administration spent years orchestrating in order to give the U.S. a new leadership role among Pacific Rim countries.

“A great thing for the American worker, what we just did,” Trump said as he signed the executive order that leaves the remaining 11 TPP countries facing an uncertain future.

Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Malaysia could try to move forward with the trade pact without the U.S., but many will likely join a competing 16-member trade deal with China - the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) - Michael Froman, then the U.S. Trade Representative, said shortly before Trump replaced Barack Obama in the White House.

Trump campaigned heavily last year against multilateral trade deals like TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), blaming them for the loss of manufacturing jobs by enticing companies to relocate factories in countries like Mexico. Trump has also pledged to renegotiate NAFTA or pull the U.S. out of that 22-year-old trade pact with Mexico and Canada.

NAFTA and TPP were likely both subjects in recent telephone discussions Trump had with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said that the new U.S. president is scheduled to meet with Peña Nieto to discuss trade, immigration and security issues on Jan. 31.

Withdrawal from TPP is being applauded by many on Capitol Hill, but much of the U.S. farming sector was counting on TPP to boost sales of beef, oilseeds, dairy, fruits, vegetables and other ag commodities.

"Trade is something soybean farmers take very seriously,” American Soybean Association President Ron Moore said today in a statement after Trump signed the executive order. “We export more than half the soy we grow here in the United States, and still more in the form of meat and other products that are produced with our meal and oil. The TPP held great promise for us, and has been a key priority for several years now. We're very disappointed to see the withdrawal today."

Trump's opposition to the TPP has put him in conflict with some of his supporters in rural America, but it's also drawn support for some of his biggest critics in Washington, including Democratic lawmakers like Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro who are celebrating the U.S. leaving TPP.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also campaigned against TPP, a cornerstone of the Obama administration's trade agenda.

“I am glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone,” Sanders said today in a statement. “For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals - including the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others - which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a ‘race to the bottom' which has lowered wages for American workers. Now is the time to develop a new trade policy that helps working families, not just multinational corporations. If President Trump is serious about a new policy to help American workers then I would be delighted to work with him.”

But Trump's action today was a blow for Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska.

"It's clear that those of us who believe trade is good for American families have done a terrible job defending trade's historic successes and celebrating its future potential,” Sassse said. “We have to make the arguments and we have to start now."