Gov’t Blunder Cooks Beef Prices
The United States Department of Agriculture said that a glitch in a computer
program and a new calculation method caused some uncertainty about determining
beef cutout values. Analysts, traders and cattle industry professionals use the
government figures to assess the supply and demand of cattle. The USDA’s figures on Wednesday were sharply higher than Friday and spurred limit-up
rallies in
June live cattle
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89.475.
Also in the meats, storage of pork bellies fell in April to the lowest level
since 1957, a time when such statistics were first calculated. The down draw in stockpiled
bellies runs contrary to the normal storage trends this time of year. Usually,
pork bellies, which are used for bacon, are accumulated to meet demand for the
heaviest BBQ-ing season during the summer.Â
August pork bellies
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brutal downtrend since the foot-and-mouth-disease scare in Europe has eased, and as
perceived, higher demand for the meat has fallen. Bellies have also dropped over
the past two days on expectations that the US would lift a ban of pork imported
from Denmark. Today’s lower storage figures sparked a reversal in
bellies, which closed up 1.925 at 75.625.
June lean hogs
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T-bonds
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lows as bond investors bought the higher yield that the low-priced instruments
provide. Bonds added 21/32 to 100 3/32.
10-year notes
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Stock index futures followed through on yesterday’s
rally that came as a one-day delayed response to
the Fed’s fifth rate cut this year. Blue chip Dow posted their the fifth best gain ever
and continued as many as 100 higher before settling up 35.0 at 11,287.
Nasdaq 100 futures
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finished 3.10 higher at 1291.50. The S&P and Dow futures were both on the Momentum-5
List.
Soymeal
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List, is rallying on news of a strike at a soybean crushing plant in
Illinois. Today’s rally is essentially the fifth day of a rally out of a
1-2-3-4-5 Pullback from Highs setup. Meal added 2.3 to 164.7.
Unleaded gasoline
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made good on its Turtle Soup Plus One Buy
setup, continuing its bounce higher off its 50-day moving average. Today’s
outside day bar up finished .0336 higher at 1.0212 and is suggestive of an upside test.Â
The Japanese yen
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an eight-day Pullback From Highs setup to a close .0061 higher to .8187.