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US Agriculture after the Closing Bell Report

LTN Closing Grain Comments; Grains close higher Monday

Grains traded higher throughout the day Monday, closing on a modest run with both Corn and Soybeans showing double-digit gains. Wheat contracts were sluggish as both Kansas City and Minneapolis finished near unchanged.

Wheat futures closed 3.75 to 6.25 cents higher in Chicago, steady to 5.5 cents higher in Kansas City and fractionally to 6.25 cents higher in Minneapolis. Despite highly supportive outside markets and spillover support from Corn and Soybeans, Wheat futures struggled to find active buying interest Monday. Part of that was likely due to thin pre-holiday trade, but still, bulls have to be somewhat disappointed in Monday’s price performance given the circumstances.

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Corn futures settled 9.5 to 11.75 cents higher for the day, which was high-range, with the Dec contract leading to the upside. Futures got an early boost from reports congestion in Brazilian ports has delayed shipments of at least 1.5 MMT of Corn, mainly to Asian exporters, which market Bulls are hopeful will translate to increased demand for US Corn.

Soybean futures were supported throughout the day by short-covering and closed 11.5 to 16 cents higher. Positive outside markets encouraging traders to cover short positions in the Soybean market. The dollar softened on rising optimism lawmakers will devise a plan to avoid the fiscal cliff and investors were also encouraged by stronger-than-expected existing home sales for Oct.

Lean Hog futures were higher throughout the day on help from positive outside markets. Dec and Feb Hogs closed $1.125 to 97.5 cents higher, respectively, with the rest of the market up 35 to 72.5 cents. Triple-digit gains in the DJIA and weakness in the USD index gave traders more confidence to extend long positions.

Live Cattle futures gapped higher on the open, but intra-day action closed that gap and futures settled low-range with all but the Apr contract 10 to 45 cents higher. Apr live Cattle settled 5 cents lower on the day. Live Cattle futures received an early boost thanks to Friday’s Cattle on Feed Report, which, as expected, pointed to tightening supplies in Y 2013.