Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving.
In the livestock pits, lean hog futures are under modest pressure, with most front-month contracts shedding fifty cents to a dollar on the session. The October contract, which expires Wednesday, is holding steady. The CME Lean Hog Index slipped another one dollar and ten cents on October ninth, settling at seventy-six dollars and fifty-one cents, reflecting continued softness in the cash market.
Turning to the grains, soybeans are trading three to five cents lower across the board this Tuesday. The national average cash bean price is off nearly four cents, sitting just above twelve dollars and twenty-three cents a bushel. Soymeal is also weaker, down one dollar sixty to four dollars forty per ton, with soy oil futures slipping forty to sixty-five points alongside.
Meanwhile, in the softs, cotton is holding a relatively tight range at midday, with contracts down as few as seven points or fractionally higher depending on the month. A weaker dollar, off thirty-two cents on the session, is offering some support, as is crude oil trading higher by sixty-four cents a barrel. Physical volume remains light, with just eight hundred thirty-six bales reported sold Monday on The Seam.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
