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WEEKLY COMMODITY HIGHLIGHTS

Nearby Futures	Weekly Change	Friday's Close	Year Ago
Corn	+0.025	4.4875	6.0425
Soybeans	-0.2575	11.7925	13.865
Wheat	-0.51	6.275	6.3025
Cattle	-1.40	177.175	178.225
Hogs	-2.775	93.500	87.875
Cotton	-2.31	73.84	84.04
Milk	+0.12	19.50	15.11
Crude Oil	-1.46	75.53	70.17

Grain and oilseed futures were mostly lower on the week, with pressure from favorable Midwest crop conditions, a benign forecast, and lack of demand. The wheat market again was leading the way to the downside in the grains, with pressure from the hard red winter wheat harvest and a strong U.S. dollar. Concerns about the Russian wheat crop persist, but a decision by Turkey to ban imports of Russian wheat until October indicates that the level of concern about global wheat supplies is not very high right now. Meanwhile crop ratings for spring wheat came in very strong to start the year. That was also the case for corn in the first national crop ratings of the season. Temperatures are expected to heat up in the Midwest over the next two weeks, but given ample soil moisture in much of the Corn Belt and forecasts showing continued healthy rains, the outlook right now for corn and soybean production looks mostly favorable. Cotton futures tumbled to their lowest level in more than a year-and-a-half, with a generally favorable crop outlook and concerns about demand in a softening economy hanging over the market.

In the livestock complex, cattle futures had a bit of a rough week, retreating under pressure from ideas the cash market has topped seasonally, renewed bird flu concerns and wholesale beef market weakness. Losses were limited, though, by futures' discounts to cash. Feeder cattle futures slid under pressure from live cattle market weakness and their premiums to the CME cash feeder index. In hogs, summer-month lean hog futures extended their losing streak to seven weeks under pressure from demand concerns, ample hog supplies and technically-driven selling, but did find support at midweek. Deferred contracts accelerated lower early in the week, with December futures hitting a 6-month low amid expectations for burdensome Q4 supplies before stabilizing.

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