By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn closed down 2 3/4 cents, December corn was down 2 1/2 cents. July soybeans closed down 6 cents, November soybeans were down 1 1/4 cents. July KC wheat closed down 2 3/4 cents, July Chicago wheat was down 1 3/4 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was down 11 3/4 cents.
Spring-planted crop futures slid again to begin the new week and month of June with drought-mitigating rainfall noted across the western Plains and southeastern United States over the past week and especially good coverage through the weekend. Meanwhile, energy futures were firm with West Texas Intermediate oil prices up 7% on the day at one point as Iranian state media reported the Iranian government was ceasing all negotiations with the U.S., citing violations of the ceasefire agreement. Reports of exchanged attacks in the Persian Gulf have been common over the past two weeks. The latest escalation comes just four days after reports on Thursday of last week that Iran and the U.S. had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire extension and a reopening of nuclear negotiations. However, there is little sign of a reopening to the Strait of Hormuz to commercial energy trade and traders may move to build risk premium back into the market after oil prices fell through May for the first monthly loss in five months.
LIVESTOCK:
The live cattle complex was trading mildly higher into Monday's noon hour as traders were pleased to at least see midday boxed beef prices higher. That is precisely where they finished the day. More than anything, traders need to see continued fundamental support if they're going to successfully move the contracts higher this week. The spot August contract is still trading below its 40-day moving average, which will remain a difficult threshold for traders to move past without sufficient fundamental support. It is also worth noting that over the weekend there was another case of New World screwworm found just 31 miles away from the U.S./Mexico border in sheep. New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Texas, somewhat higher in Nebraska/Colorado, and lower in Kansas.
Upon seeing the live cattle contracts trading higher, the feeder cattle contracts also jumped higher -- pleased to take any support the market can attract at this point. As long as the live cattle contracts continue to trade higher, the feeder cattle contracts will likely follow in the same direction.
One would hope traders would look at the continued support of consumers -- as the midday pork cutout value was higher -- and begin to show the lean hog contracts some support. But that isn't how the market traded this morning as most of the lean hog contracts were lower heading into Monday's closing bell.