Posted on April, 23, 2025 at 08:50 am
Grain markets started the week under a bit of pressure, largely due to favorable planting conditions and progress that’s slightly ahead of expectations.
Jim McCormick with AgMarket.net says Monday’s USDA Crop Progress report surprised some traders.
“Well, the planting progress that came out on Monday afternoon after the close did show the planting progress was a little bit ahead of what the trade was thinking,” McCormick said. “I think more importantly, if you look at the near-term forecast that’s come out today, it looks like it’s not a perfect forecast, but over the next two weeks in general, we are going to get a lot of planting done. I think that’s just taking a little bit of the edge off the market, maybe taking a little weather premium back out that they put on maybe late last week.”
Meanwhile, the livestock sector is seeing rebound Tuesday after weakness earlier in the week. McCormick attributes the upswing to outside market influence.
“Right now, the cash market did trade pretty strong last week,” he explained. “We saw no follow-through on that on Monday, plain and simple, because the equity market really got hit very hard on uncertainty about Chairman Powell and the trade tariffs. There’s a little bit better vibe today, at least. The stock market’s having a nice little rebound, and that does seem to be spilling over into the livestock market at the moment.”
Looking at the broader market picture, McCormick points to currency movement as another factor for producers to watch.
“Keeping an eye on the U.S. dollar right now, it has seen a little bit of a rebound, which is actually a little bit negative for the grain trade,” McCormick said. “A weaker dollar does keep us more competitive. And we’ll see. I think overall the dollar is going to continue to weaken. I think this is more of a dead cat bounce than anything else.”
Source: Kool Radio