TOP STORIES
Campbell Soup's 2Q Profit Falls, Net Sales Rise
Campbell Soup Co. saw profit fall in its second quarter due to results a year ago including a large boost from earnings from discontinued operations.
Campbell's profit attributable to the company was $245 million, or 80 cents a share, and dropped from a year ago's $1.21 billion, or $3.97 a share in profit. The company's earnings a year earlier included $1.04 billion in earnings from discontinued operations.
Covid-19 Stimulus Wins Broad Backing from Farm, Food Groups -- Market Talk
1554 ET - Major farm, food and anti-hunger groups cheered passage of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by Congress on Wednesday, applauding measures from expanded nutrition assistance to debt relief for minority farmers. The bill, which awaits President Biden's signature, extends a 15% increase in benefits for food-stamp recipients and provides funds to help rural communities boost access to Covid-19 vaccines. Notably, it earmarks $4B for farmers of color struggling to pay off burdensome debts while dealing with disproportionate rates of illness and death from Covid-19. "This is long overdue relief for Black farmers," said John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association. (jesse.newman@wsj.com; @jessenewman13)
STORIES OF INTEREST
Supply Challenges Pressure Campbell Soup -- Market Talk
0927 ET - Supply constraints dented Campbell Soup's sales at the end of last year as higher rates of Covid-19 cases led to more absenteeism at its factories in December. "We crossed the double digit line on absenteeism, which was really the highest we had seen and really did reduce a little bit of our firepower," CEO Mark Clouse said on a conference call. Campbell had expected to be able to produce enough to get ahead of demand in the quarter, but products like its soup broths and sandwich crackers were in short supply. "We continue to make steady progress," Clouse said. Additionally, last month, its Paris, Texas factory making Prego pasta sauce and Pace salsa shut down for a couple weeks because of the severe winter storms, creating more supply problems. (annie.gasparro@wsj.com)
Tattooed Chef Up 4%; Six Products To Be Available at Target
Tattooed Chef Inc. shares were up 4% to $21.34 in afternoon trading.
The plant-based foods company before the market open said six of its products will be available in Target stores nationwide starting Monday.
Delivery Hero Among Best-In-Class for Food Delivery -- Market Talk
1344 GMT - Delivery Hero's acquisitions of Woowa Brothers in South Korea, Glovo's operations in Latin America and InstaShop in the Middle East and North Africa give the Berlin-based food-delivery company more exposure to emerging markets, J.P. Morgan Cazenove says. "We remain bullish on the overall online food delivery space, and see Delivery Hero as a best-in-class operator in the space," JPM Cazenove says. The U.S. investment bank expects high investment levels in 2021 amid competitive pressure in new markets and the rollout of grocery logistics, but losses should narrow and Delivery Hero could return to profitability from the second half of 2022. Delivery Hero shares trade 2.8% lower at EUR104.10. (mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94)
FUTURES MARKETS
Hog Futures Higher as Swine Fever Variant Hits China -- Market Talk
1507 ET - Lean hog futures finished trading 0.5% higher Wednesday, closing at 88.775 cents per pound. For hogs, one factor pulling them up today was the expectation that a new swine fever variant in China may push the demand for US exports even higher. "However, a new variant has the potential to continue China's large pork importing numbers, and could revise US pork export numbers significantly from where they were expected a few months ago," says Steiner Consulting. Meanwhile, live cattle futures closed trading down 0.7% to $1.18775 per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)
CASH MARKETS
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Mar 10
All figures are on a per-head basis.
Date Standard Margin Estimated margin
Operating Index at vertically -
integrated operations
Mar 10 +$ 11.93 +$ 72.00
Mar 9 +$ 10.94 +$ 71.48
Mar 8 +$ 7.22 +$ 67.74
* 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 109.6
(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 108.6
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports
Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Wednesday fell $1.74 per hundred pounds, to $227.29, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices fell $3.98 per hundred pounds, to $219.82. The total load count was 132. Wholesale pork prices rose 24 cents, to $95.89 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-10-21 1710ET
