Hog Futures Trade Sideways on Mixed Market Messages
Hog futures traded sideways on lower cash-market and pork prices.
Pork prices were sharply lower Thursday, that had traders cautious about longer-term support for hog futures.
August lean hogs gained 25 to 82.25, October gained 2 to 67.67. All other months were lower.
Cattle futures reversed course to close mostly higher, with feeder cattle making the largest gains.
August live cattle closed steady at $1.14, October gained 20 to $113, and August feeders rose 135 to $147.
Grain and soybean futures rose on renewed weather concerns, as less rain fell on the Corn Belt than expected.
Corn and soybean fields in Iowa, a key crop-growing state, got less moisture than initially thought and forecasters only expect significant showers to return to the Midwest in around two weeks. That puts up to a quarter of Midwest crops at risk of stress, according to Commodity Weather Group. Spring wheat futures led prices for other wheat varieties higher on Thursday too.
August soybeans rose 6 to $9.94, September corn climbed 1 ½ to $3.74, September Chicago wheat gained 2 to $4.79, and September KC wheat gained 5 ½ to $4.81.
Cotton futures gained on Thursday with the October contract gaining 148 to 70.50, and December new crop jumping 49 to 68.89.
Oil futures rose to fresh two-month highs Thursday on building momentum from recent inventory declines.
September crude settled up 29 cents to $49.04 a barrel, Gasoline futures gained 2.73 cents to $1.64 a gallon, and Diesel futures rose a fraction to $1.60 a gallon.
Natural gas futures surged after government data showed a smaller-than-expected storage addition for last week. August Natural gas settled up 4.5 cents to $2.96.
On Wall Street, a swoon in technology and transportation shares dragged the S&P 500 lower on Thursday on a day full of corporate earnings reports, but the Dow industrials set a record closing high, helped by a jump in Verizon shares. The Dow gained 85 to 21,796, the Nasdaq closed at 6,382, down 40 and the S&P 500 fell 2 to 2,475.