Nearby
Futures | Weekly
Change | Friday's
Close | Year
Ago |
| Corn | -5 1/4 | 3.79 1/4 | 4.85 3/4 |
| Soybeans | -51 1/2 | 9.79 1/4 | 14.37 ½ |
| Wheat | -31 3/4 | 4.85 3/4 | 6.41 1/2 |
| Cattle | -3.35 | 154.65 | 143.15 |
| Hogs | -1.35 | 66.13 | 112.40 |
| Cotton | -1.78 | 62.95 | 90.00 |
| Milk | -.07 | 15.42 | 22.60 |
| Crude Oil | -0.15 | 49.61 | 101.56 |
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Comments: Corn, wheat and soybeans all stumbled last week amid lackluster demand, with a surging dollar adding pressure to commodities in general.
The wheat market was especially weak as many contracts set new contract lows and May Chicago wheat fell 6%.
Corn continued in its choppy pattern but did post its lowest Friday close in five weeks, and a continued decline in ethanol demand is hanging over the market.
Soybeans, which had previously rallied on concerns about a trucker strike in Brazil, sagged this week along with soybean meal as the strike waned and traders re-focused on the huge South American crop that is being harvested and will soon hit the export market.
A warming trend in the U.S.
and relative lack of crop problems around the world could keep the grains complex on the defensive.
Livestock futures were mixed.
Live cattle futures rallied to their highest level since mid-January, supported by the discount to cash trade.
Cash cattle traded $2 to $4 higher than a week before in the southern Plains, and packer margins, while still thin, have at least climbed back into positive territory.
Lean hog futures fell as supplies are comfortable and pork prices continued to fall.
The pork carcass cutout value, which tumbled throughout February, continued to sag last week, dropping $1.69.
Cotton futures fell to their lowest level in a month, retreating throughout the week on profit-taking, technical selling and poor export demand.
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