TOP STORIES

USDA Raises Cattle, Hogs Price Forecast -- Market Talk

12:56 ET - The USDA raises its forecasts for cattle and hog prices this year. For cattle, the change to $108.71 from $107.30 per hundredweight is thanks to "current price strength and robust beef demand," the USDA says, adding that such strength is likely to carry into early 2021. Hog price forecasts are raised to $43.25 from $39.4 per hundredweight "on current price movements and continued strength in demand," the USDA says. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)

STORIES OF INTEREST

USDA Pares Down Crop Production Outlook -- Update

The bumper crop U.S. farmers are expected to harvest this fall may be smaller than initially thought, according to new estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In its monthly supply and demand report released Friday, the USDA said it expects farmers to produce 14.72 billion bushels of corn and 4.27 billion bushels of soybeans. That's down from the agency's estimates last month.

SpartanNash Shares Surge 35% as Amazon Gets Warrant to Buy Stake

Shares of SpartanNash Co. rose nearly 35% Friday after the grocery distributor issued a warrant to buy about 5.44 million shares to Amazon.com Inc. in connection with its commercial agreement with the e-commerce giant.

SpartanNash said the warrant carries an exercise price of $17.7257 a share, and that it is already vested for about 1.09 million shares.

SpartanNash, which in 2016 inked a deal to supply Amazon's distribution centers with grocery products, currently has about 35.8 million shares outstanding.

FUTURES MARKETS

Hog Futures Post Highest Close Since March -- Market Talk

15:56 ET - Lean hog futures trading on the CME closed trading Friday up 0.4% to 67.125 cents per pound. It's the highest that hog futures have finished since late March. Hog futures have risen 6.4% since Oct. 1, driven higher with cutout prices on the rise. However, in its WASDE report Friday, the USDA says that "the 2020 and 2021 pork export forecasts are lowered from last month on weakness in global import demand"--which could push hog futures lower next week. Meanwhile, live cattle futures finished virtually unchanged at $1.126 per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

CASH MARKETS 


 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Oct 9 
 
All figures are on a per-head basis. 
 
Date     Standard Margin       Estimated margin 
         Operating Index         at vertically - 
                             integrated operations 
 
Oct  9       +$ 55.56            +$ 74.46 
Oct  8       +$ 55.62            +$ 76.39 
Oct  7       +$ 59.83            +$ 74.50 
 
* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production. 
A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of production of the animals. 
 
Beef-O-Meter 
This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite 
values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices. 
 
                                  Beef 
          For Today              Choice   99.3 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)      Select  107.1 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Friday fell $1.94 per hundred pounds, to $214.06, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices fell $3.28 per hundred pounds, to $199.82. The total load count was 124. Wholesale pork prices fell 90 cents, to $93.70 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-09-20 1746ET