Corn, soybeans, and wheat are trading on the plus side ahead of the weekend as short covering develops. This week’s pressure has come from a lack of bullish news, not from bearish news, and this has lessened selling pressure. Corn and soybeans managed a firm close yesterday after trading lower much of the session, showing us selling interest is limited. Oversold technical indicators are providing some support, but more and more is coming from lower than expected corn yields to start the US harvest. While trade wants to see the official updated yield from the USDA in next Friday’s WASDE report, the more reports they hear of lower yields, the less willing they are to extend market pressure.

StoneX backed off its lofty yield expectations and put its guess for the September 12 WASDE crop report yields at 86.9 BPA for corn and 53.2 for beans.

The US non-farm payroll numbers out this morning were softer than expected coming in at 22,000 versus an estimate of 78,000 for job increases. This sets the stage for a lower interest rate in the September Federal Reserve meeting. US dollar is back under 98.00 again looking to extend weakness that could help exports in the fall.

US river conditions will also be in the news today, following draft restrictions on the Mississippi River due to low water. Building drought conditions in the Ohio Valley will likely prevent these water levels from improving anytime soon. A day of collective trade would not be surprising.

Corn export sales again saw another week over 2 MMTs. As usual, there were some old crop cancellations, which is not a surprise, of 280,900 MMTs. Meanwhile, soybeans were 818,500 MTs with cancellations of just 23,800 MTs of old crop of old crop. Wheat was a bit disappointing at 313,000 MTs, which was down 51% from the four-week average.

Cattle futures struggled yesterday and again closed lower. We are obviously in corrective mode since scoring a high two Wednesdays ago. Since then, rallies have quickly found willing sellers. Unless the market finds buying today that develops into a strong Friday close, the market is at risk of a wave C decline that can push October live cattle down to 232-233, with 354-355 being moderate support, but significant support at 350 being a target for October feeders.

Thursday’s live trade saw cattle in the South pick up steady trade at $242, with sales quoted at $243. In the north, the trade was softer by $2-5 from last week, trading at $242-243. Box beef did show gains on Thursday of $1.80 for choice, while select picked up four cents. The Actual Slaughter report out had weights again jumping 9 pounds at the end of August 2 942 pounds, which were 21 pounds heavier than a year ago. Packers cutting kills during the summer helped add weight to carcasses.