10:58 update
Feb hogs off $1.25 at $85.15 on soft pig report
Cattle will focus on advance beef bookings for next week
Supports: March corn last weeks low, March Soybeans $14.00 and March wheat $7.62
Feb hogs about $83 and Feb cattle $129-134
Dow 12,661
S&P 1380-1400
10:16 update
Pig crop nets out bearish
Cash hogs steady a call
Argentine soybeans mostly good to excellent
Russian grain harvest latest 70.4 MT from 71 MT earlier
Iraq wheat tender pending
Wheat has held above chart support
Watch last weeks low on March corn
140,000 tons of soybeans to unknowns which last week were German. Indonesian or Viet Nan
Stocks pensive and at risk of falling over an equity cliff if congressional finagling is unsatisfactory
Financial
Two years of haggling and we have accomplished nothing
President passed ball to the grid locked senate
Stocks have been calm, but beware the first of the year
Asian markets were higher
Merkel warns Germans of a tough year in 2013
Crude $90.42 off $.38
Gold up $7 at $1662
Dollar 79.70 in range
DAX index down .6^ and FTSE down .5%
Dow opens 33 lower
Livestock
Feb cattle at $133.50 were $7 over cash
Carcass weights up 30# equals 25,000 added slaughter for the week
Boxed beef eases to $193
Pig crop off a shade on inventory and marketing and up a bit on breeding
Pork cutout down $.24 with loin’s up $1.24 and hams down $.08
Holiday slaughter again this week with pricing for first full week
Milk price spike said to be averted but I have not seen the details
Grain and soybeans
March corn came in at $6.91 up 3, March beans $14.14 off 10 and March wheat $7.71 or 8 lower
Few fundamentals to react too
Dry week ahead with seasonally cold temperatures
Export sales picked up in wheat, remained horrible in corn and are getting more S American selective in beans
Low water impairs movement on Mississippi
Fiscal foolishness continues to haunt all market