Grains firm into the final full trading session ahead of Thanksgiving Day.

This morning’s grain trade is firmer across the board with corn breaking out of recent congestion. The grain trade is slowly following the seasonal tendency to rally from Monday into Thanksgiving. Small that it may be, it’s still a rally.

Most of today’s action will likely revolve around month-end positioning, with many traders stepping aside for the rest of the week. Expect Friday’s session to be thin but potentially volatile, as it marks both a shortened post-holiday trade and first notice day for December contracts.

Trading hours: normal today, no night session trading tonight or Thursday night, closed Thursday, then open Friday from 8:30 AM to 12:05 PM CT. Friday is first notice day and current December registrations: 80 corn, 34 SRW wheat, 176 HRW wheat.

Fresh news remains limited with little change from yesterday. Markets continue watching US-China trade headlines and South American weather. Purchase announcements for Chinese beans could occur on Friday, with markets closed on Thursday. China continues to operate as they did not acknowledge our holiday. Meanwhile, a major Midwest winter storm is set to tighten already firm cash markets even further.

Live and feeder cattle trading yesterday presented another standard $10 died 00 trading range for January feeders, with live cattle closing slightly lower. The bigger picture of the Lexington, Nebraska, plant closing is that plant utilization is at 80% and will likely grow to 90% as we eventually see another plant close. 

The cash feeder index is off $4.41 at $331.97 and is still substantially above the January feeder cattle contract. Negotiated cash cattle trade got underway yesterday with feedlots in the north seeing Iowa down $ $8 at $216. Nebraska was quoted at $209-210, $7-8 lower than the previous price. The South is quoted at $220 with no sales yet. Yesterday, the box beef had a choice off $0.40, and the select picked up $0.40.

Look for February cattle to find support in the 204-206 range, while January feeder cattle have found stability near 300. Upside potential for a recovery exists into the end of the year, with significant discounts to the cash trade being supportive.