Commodity Blog

Cattle futures rallied to the highest level in 26 months on expectations that demand from meatpackers will increase ahead of holidays, such as Christmas and New Year. Wholesale choice beef rose to $1.5901 per pound at midday after it fell yesterday for the first time in five sessions. February futures for cattle delivery rose $0.00525 (0.5 percent) to $1.05025 per pound at 13:00 on the CME.

Corn, cotton and soybeans dropped today on speculation that China may take steps to cool its economy. China, the largest world user of soybeans and the second-biggest consumer of corn, ordered its banks to increase reserves to cut inflation and prevent asset-bubble. March futures for corn delivery dropped $0.21 (3.8 percent) to $5.3475 per bushel on CBoT as of 13:15. March futures for cotton delivery slipped $0.06 (4.6 percent) to $1.2315 per pound by 14:49 on ICE. January futures for soybean delivery went down $0.405 (3.3 percent) to $12.015 per bushel in Chicago.

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