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 WEEKLY COMMODITY HIGHLIGHTS
Nearby
Futures | Weekly
Change | Friday's
Close | Year
Ago |
| Corn | +0.0625 | 3.5250 | 3.6625 |
| Soybeans | +0.1675 | 9.7725 | 10.7025 |
| Wheat | +0.0225 | 4.2275 | 4.2350 |
| Cattle | +3.27 | 122.73 | 121.03 |
| Hogs | +1.18 | 75.50 | 65.42 |
| Cotton | +1.74 | 83.42 | 72.69 |
| Milk | +0.49 | 13.56 | 16.80 |
| Crude Oil | -0.92 | 63.31 | 51.37 |
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Soybeans put on a strong performance, jumping to open the week and surging to new five-week highs on Friday.
The rally was fed by uncertainty about Argentina production, a strong monthly NOPA crush number and short-covering by speculators holding a large net short position.
The gains followed an impressive rally following the Jan.
12 USDA reports.
Corn futures were also higher, and while the gains weren't huge, it still made for the best weekly performance in corn since July.
Strong export sales were supportive.
The trade is starting to speculate on 2018 acres, with current expectations for both corn and soybean plantings topping 90 million acres.
Cotton futures surged to new highs, including a contract high in December, on strong export demand, tight near-term supplies and weakness in the U.S.
dollar index, which fell to a three-year low.
Rice futures were up on the week thanks to a rally of more than 30 cents on Jan.
16.
In the energy complex, crude oil futures made a three-year high early in the week before retreating and ending lower, with expectations of a surge in U.S.
production hanging over the market.
In the livestock complex, live cattle futures surged on technical buying and early optimism about the week's cash trade, which wasn't confirmed until Friday.
Beef prices were soft seasonally, and the market's upside could be limited by expectations for the Jan.
26 Cattle on Feed report, although the release of that report is in question with the government shutdown.
Lean hog futures posted moderate gains on strong cash-market fundamentals.
Futures made new highs but could not maintain their gains.
Nearby February futures went discount to cash, signaling sentiment that the cash market it topping again.
With pork production likely to expand significantly year-over-year in 2018, the onus is on consumers to step up and boost demand.
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