CME February 2024 live cattle with 10-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle drop on fund selling, beef demand concerns

Chicago lean hogs continue higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures dropped on Thursday after two sessions of gains, pressured by fund long liquidation and as higher corn feed prices and worries about demand for high-priced beef cuts hung over the market. Technical selling accelerated the break, the live cattle market’s sixth in the last eight sessions, […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle gain for second straight day after selloff

Chicago lean hog futures also firm

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures rose for a second consecutive session on Wednesday on short covering and follow-through technical and bargain buying after the market plunged to multi-month lows to start the week. Improving packer margins and futures’ steep discount to cash cattle prices also supported the market following the fund-selling […] Read more

CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle up on short covering, discount to cash

Short covering also lifts CME hogs

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures surged on Tuesday in a short-covering rebound from multi-month lows in the prior session, supported by the market’s steep discount to cash market prices. Feeder cattle futures rose by as much as the daily trading limit, triggering expanded limits for both feeders and live cattle for […] Read more


CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Fund selling sends CME cattle to multi-month lows

February hogs touch contract low

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures tumbled sharply for a second straight session on Monday on fund long liquidation, technical selling and concerns about slowing beef demand and rising supplies. Actively traded February live cattle dropped to an eight-month low while several deferred-month contracts posted life-of-contract lows. January feeder cattle plunged more […] Read more

Signage on Viterra’s office building in Regina. (Dave Bedard photo)

Bunge seeks antitrust approvals for Viterra merger in major jurisdictions

Commodities market competition healthy in Canada, U.S., CEO says

Minneapolis | Reuters — Bunge has filed for regulatory approvals for its merger with crop handler Viterra in “major jurisdictions” in North and South America, Europe and China, and has gotten the green light from some of its smaller markets including Colombia, CEO Greg Heckman said on Thursday. The merger, which would create a company […] Read more


File photo of vessels on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans on Nov. 5, 2017. (Dave Bedard photo)

Low water on Mississippi to persist despite improved drought outlook

Risk of getting stuck mean less grain per barge

Chicago | Reuters — Low water levels on the lower Mississippi River are likely to persist through at least January despite expected above-normal precipitation across the southern U.S. this winter, forecasters with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday. The severe to exceptional drought choking the lower Mississippi River valley is expected to […] Read more

CME December 2023 live cattle with 20- and 50-day moving averages and ICE December 2023 Brent crude (black line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle retreat as energy rally dents beef demand outlook

Lean hog futures mostly also lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures fell on Friday as traders banked profits and squared positions ahead of the weekend as geopolitical turmoil riled energy markets and stoked concerns about beef demand. Crude oil rallied more than five per cent on Friday on the escalating Middle East conflict as the Israeli military […] Read more


CBOT November 2023 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy, corn slip on profit taking, macro pressure

Exports lift wheat futures

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures retreated on Friday on profit-taking after hitting two-week highs in the previous session and as souring consumer sentiment and inflation worries hung over the market. Corn futures followed soybeans lower, but wheat rallied after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported stronger-than-expected weekly export sales and confirmed a […] Read more

CME December 2023 live cattle with 20- and 50-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hogs down as Middle East war sparks risk-off selling

Smithfield to shut Charlotte, N.C. plant

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures retreated on Monday while lean hog futures fell for the first time in four sessions, pressured by risk-off selling as violence erupted in the Middle East over the weekend and riled global markets. The bloodiest fighting in years between the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel […] Read more