SMF Notes USDA report confirms dry/poor weather

SMF Notes USDA report confirms dry/poor weather for corn crop in U.S.; Agency releases weekly crop progress report, which is bullish for corn futures (ETFs: CORN and JJG)

Earlier today, we noted that corn prices were significantly higher overnight (please see our 10:14 comment), which was largely due to dry weather affected crops in key growing regions. And by the end of today's pit trading session on the CME, which now ends at 2:00 pm CST, corn finished the day 40 cents higher (the exchange limit) to $5.94/bushel.

The USDA just released its weekly crop progress report, which confirmed the effects of the recent dry weather seen in key corn growing regions in the U.S.

The USDA reported that corn in the U.S. in good/excellent condition fell significantly to 56%, down from 63% in the prior week and down from 68% this time last year. Corn in fair conditions rose to 30% from 28%, corn in poor condition rose to 10% from and corn in very poor condition in the U.S. rose to 4% from 2%.

As you can see below, fertilizer stocks posted gains today given the strong corn prices. Despite these strong prices, farm equipment, seed, irrigation and livestock names traded lower.

Related agriculture stocks includes: Fertilizer stocks (CF +3.4%, TNH +3.2%, POT and UAN +1.7%, RTK +1.1%, MOS +1.0%, RNF +1.0%, AGU +0.9%), Seed names (DOW -1.8%, DD -1.3%, MON -0.7%, SYT -0.5%), farm equipment names (CNH -3.9%, TITN -2.8%, AGCO -2.1%, DE -1.5%), irrigation (LNN -1.1%), and livestock producers including (SAFM -1.9%, TSN -1.9%, HRL -0.1%, SFD +0.1%).

Related ETFs include: WEAT +8.0% (wheat ETF), JJG +6.0% (grains ETF), CORN +5.8% (corn ETF), DBA +1.9%.