Buy the rumour, sell the fact

Cornfield

Last night, the USDA released their long anticipated quarterly stocks report. Most of the action has been in the corn and wheat pits this week as speculation of lower stocks fuelled buying action. It is interesting quirk of the market that the rumour can provide more heat than the actual fact, and so to with […]

Heavy steers lift off like a rocket

Angus Cattle

Another week, another record. The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator notched up a new all-time high, but the more notable news this week was a huge 10% surge in heavy steer prices, which reached an unprecedented 476¢/kg lwt, with restocker steers following the trend, also up 6%. Slaughter and yardings numbers moved in opposite directions last […]

Slaughter slumps in the south

Sheep paddock

A short week in Victoria saw lamb slaughter plunge to its lowest weekly total since April. New season lamb numbers in the state are slowly lifting though and sold into a week of quite mixed results between states and categories. Weaker lamb yardings in all states last week saw east coast throughput drop 11% from […]

Power failure turns lights off for wool

Factory_in_China

The sensitivity of the wool market to China, and the nervousness around global markets was emphasized at this week’s auctions. Reported factory closures on the back of power shortages in China reverberated into the wool auction rooms as buyers lost confidence and pulled back prices on the news that processors were closing under government direction […]