Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary

Feeder cattle auctions mixed; futures down.

Formula trades higher; Beef prices up.

Cotton prices down.

Grains and soybeans mixed.

Milk futures up.

Crude oil down; Natural gas higher.

Stock markets mixed.

 Daily Market News Summary Data

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Cattle:

Texas feeder cattle auctions showed mixed prices, with instances from steady to $4 lower and solid to $2 higher. January Feeder cattle futures were 37 cents lower, closing at $149.95 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was not active today. December Fed cattle futures were lower, dropping 85 cents to close at $116.37 per cwt. Wholesale boxed beef values were up, with Choice grade gaining $2.20 to close at $208.19 per cwt and Select grade gaining $1.93 to close at $185.54 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 119,000, up 1,000 from last week’s total and up 5,000 from last year’s total. Year-to-date harvest is up 4.38%. 

Cotton:

Cotton prices were lower, closing at 71.50 cents per pound and December cotton futures losing .4 cents to close at 75.03 cents per pound. 

Corn and Grain Sorghum:

Corn prices were down with cash prices losing 2 cents, closing at $3.60 per bushel and December futures down 5 cents to close at $3.40 per bushel. Grain Sorghum cash prices were up, gaining 2 cents to close at $5.71 per cwt. 

Wheat:

Wheat prices were down with cash prices losing 3 cents to close at $3.76 per bushel and December futures losing a penny to close at $4.20 per bushel.

Milk:

Milk prices were up a nickel, with December Class III milk closing at $15.37 per cwt.

Stock Markets and Crude Oil:

Stock markets were mixed, with two-thirds of the major indexes showing losses. January Crude oil futures were down 89 cents to close at $57.47 per barrel.

From Agri-Pulse:

GOP lawmakers rush to finish tax bill

Buckle in because it’s going to be a fast-paced week as Congressional Republicans try to finish up their $1.5 trillion tax reform package. The House – the first to pass its version of the bill - is scheduled to vote today to go to conference with the Senate, which passed its version in the early hours of Saturday morning with a narrow 51–49 vote.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to sign a finished bill before Christmas and lawmakers are running out of time. Both houses will have to vote again if they are able to smooth out differences between the two versions. The Washington Post reports that a complication could come from comments from Trump on Saturday that he might agree to a corporate tax rate of 22 percent, which is higher than the 20 percent in the bill that was passed just hours earlier by the Senate.

The massive tax reform has prompted diverse reactions from the farm community. On the pro side, American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said the legislation will be a boon for farmers.
 
“We applaud the Senate’s commitment to key tax provisions farm and ranch businesses depend on, such as immediate expensing, business interest deduction and cash accounting,” Duvall said. “Farm Bureau looks forward to the Senate and House reconciling the differences between their respective versions in conference to achieve a final tax reform package that addresses the needs and concerns of farmers and ranchers and boosts economic growth in rural America.”
 
National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson took a much different view.

“Today, the U.S. Senate voted to cut taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations in our country, and pay for those cuts by adding $1.5 trillion to the deficit and shifting the tax burden onto the rest of us, and to our children and grandchildren,” he said. “This legislation and its counterpart on the House side are inherently flawed, and Congress should reject any combination of the two.”