(Regis Lefebure photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures mixed on end-of-year positioning

Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were narrowly mixed on Friday, paring earlier steep gains on end-of-year positioning, traders said. Stronger bids for cattle in U.S. Plains cash markets underpinned prices. But some investors took profits after most-active February futures hit an eight-month high before turning slightly lower. Despite the recent rally, cattle




(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: Soybeans down on profit-taking before USDA data

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures dropped two per cent on Thursday, the steepest decline in 2-1/2 months, on profit-taking tied to lower veg oil prices and extended weather outlooks for rainfall in Argentina, traders and analysts said. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the nation’s Environmental








Photo: Thinkstock

U.S. grains: Soy, corn rebound on technical buying; wheat lower

Chicago/Reuters – U.S. soybean futures rallied on Thursday, rebounding on technical buying after the previous session’s steep losses, while corn edged higher and wheat lower in choppy trading as the dollar rose, traders said. All three commodities pared earlier gains, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly forecast on Wednesday for larger-than-expected and record-large U.S.