Good Morning farm country. Davis Michaelsen here with your morning update for Tuesday, October 6. From Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today, these are some of the stories we are watching this morning:

Corn futures opened under pressure, but the market is currently trading high-range and up a penny or two. Soybean futures rallied overnight and are trading high-range and up 8 to 9 cents. Wheat futures haven’t strayed far from unchanged. Winter wheat contracts are mixed, while HRS wheat is steady to a penny higher. The U.S. dollar index is posting slight losses, with crude oil futures just above unchanged.

Following are highlights of USDA’s update for the week ended Oct. 4, 2020.

•             Corn: 87% mature, 25% harvested, 62% “good” to “excellent” (G/E)
•             Soybeans: 85% dropping leaves, 38% harvested, 64% G/E
•             Cotton: 83% opening bolls, 17% harvested, 40% G/E
•             Winter wheat: 52% planted, 24% emerged

When USDA's weekly condition ratings are plugged into the weighted Pro FarmerCrop Condition Index the corn crop and soybean crops improved for a third week in a row.

Significant gaps remain between the Democrat’s $2.2 trillion proposal and a $1.6 trillion offer backed by the White House, but both sides have reported progress. Despite President Donald Trump recently calling for both parties to "get it done" on stimulus, it is unclear if a deal struck by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would have sufficient Republican support in the Senate.

Charles Evans, the Chicago Fed leader, said holding off on rate hikes between 2015 and 2018 may have left the economy stronger. Meanwhile, Evans predicted the first “test” of the Fed’s new strategy could arrive in the spring as inflation expectations looked to be “temporarily” above 2% as large drops in price that took place this year fall out of the annual equation. He does not expect the Fed to raise rates in response.

The U.S. accounted for 7% of Chinese crude imports through mid-September, according to London-based market intelligence firm Vortexa Ltd — up from 0.4% in January. Market share for Saudi Arabia, China’s biggest traditional supplier, fell to 15%, and U.S. exports to China are expected to reach as much as 700,000 barrels a day at the end of October, forecasts Virginie Bahnik, a senior analyst at Geneva-based Petro-Logistics SA, cited by the Wall Street Journal. China may continue buying U.S. crude even after the trade agreement ends or under a new Biden administration, some say, noting that Chinese refineries retooled their plants to process U.S. grades.

Cattle showlist numbers in Kansas are about the same this week as last week, though the number of cattle for sale in Texas, Nebraska and Colorado are slightly smaller. That suggests cash cattle prices may build on last week’s $2.07 advance in the average cash price. But packers bought a lot of cattle last week. If Monday’s firmer tone in the cash hog and product markets continues, lean hog futures could see followthrough buying to Monday’s mild gains.

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