Grains, Dairy & Data

So starting with the markets from last week.

Grains were mostly firm, but really mixed over the last month.

And the one major exception to the firmness last week was soybean oil, which fell pretty strongly.

Markets were reacting to USDA acreage and stocks reports, which we'll talk about more with John in a little bit.

The dairy markets generally were mixed.

Cheese was flat.

Butter was higher.

Nonfat dry milk was kind of flattish too, at least on the weekly average.

But make no mistake, these markets generally are soft, very soft.

And we're going to talk about the milk production report we got a couple of weeks ago and the impact on supplies and prices here.

In the protein markets, pork...

Starting to firm, maybe.

The USDA cutout was up 1% last week.

Output remains solid, but markets continue to trend well below year-ago levels.

Case in point, pork bellies or bacon is down 33% year-on-year.

And the chicken markets generally were soft again last week.

Check this out.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast market reached seven-month lows.

Chicken tenders fell 8% last week alone.

The one major exception, chicken wings starting to firm.

And this is all due to strong chicken production gains.

Beef, USDA choice and select cutouts were an index of those boxed beef markets, down 1.5% week on week.

Loins led to declines last week, which was interesting heading into the 4th of July holiday.

And by the way, happy birthday, America.

Ribs were higher.