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A new political landscape. A mixed morning in the markets | The Opening Look · Professional Ag Marketing Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Trading commodity futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning and hello world.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: From our broadcast desk, this is the opening look for Wednesday, November 4th, 2026.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Nathan.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: The nation awakens this morning to a changed political landscape following Tuesday's midterm elections, while the commodity markets begin the day on a comparatively quiet footing.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: In the next few minutes, we'll examine the weakness in the overnight grain trade, yesterday's sharp pressure across cattle complex, and the latest numbers from the wholesale meat markets, and the election results that will reshape Washington for the next two years.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: First, the price action.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We begin with the overnight grain markets, where the trade has been relatively subdued in the hours following Tuesday's election.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: December corn is down three quarters of a cent this morning, trading at four hundred forty one and three quarters per bushel.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: January soybeans are under greater pressure, falling nine and a half cents to twelve oh four and a half.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: In livestock, Tuesday's session produced a considerably different picture between hogs and cattle.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: December lean hogs managed to finish 42.5 cents higher, providing some strength at the front of the market.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: That support did not carry through to the remainder of the board, however, as the deferred hog contracts finished the session lower.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: The cattle complex carried a decidedly weaker tone.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: December live cattle fell$1.55 to$218.15, while losses grew far larger farther along the futures curve.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Feeder cattle suffered the heaviest pressure of the livestock trade.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: January feeders dropped$4.30, finishing Tuesday's session at$3.28.37.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, as Wednesday begins, the agricultural markets present a mixed picture.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Modest weakness in the overnight grains, some resilience in the nearby hogs, and continued selling pressure across the cattle complex.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: We turn now to the fundamental numbers, where Tuesday's trade again revealed a sharp divide between the cash hog market and the value of pork moving through wholesale channels.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: The national negotiated cash hog market fell another$4.62 on Tuesday to$45.39 per hundredweight.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Wholesale pork, however, moved slightly higher.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: The afternoon pork cutout gained 15 cents, finishing at$72.43.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: In the beef market, wholesale values also strengthened.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Choice box beef gained 19 cents to$365.23, while Select climbed$343 to$358.37.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: That stronger move in Select narrowed the choice to select spread to$686, with approximately 140 loads reported.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: The noteworthy feature of these markets is not simply the direction of the daily move, but the divergence underneath it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Cash hog values continue to lose ground while the port cutout has shown considerably greater stability.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: In beef, both choice and select values remain historically elevated even as cattle futures came under significant pressure Tuesday.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And now to Washington, where voters have substantially altered the balance of political power.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Democrats are projected to have captured control of both chambers of Congress following Tuesday's midterm elections.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: In the Senate, the party flipped Republican held seats in Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas, among other gains.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: The change in the House was equally consequential.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Democrats crossed the 208-seat threshold required for control, with CNBC's election desk projecting the party to win at least 245 seats.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Democrats also flipped the governor's offices in Ohio and Texas, where Amy Action is projected to defeat Vivek Ramaswamy, while Gina Hinohosa is projected to defeat Governor Greg Abbott.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: For agriculture and the broader economy, attention now turns from the election itself to what divide it's to what divided government will mean for policy.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: With Democrats controlling Congress and President Trump remaining in the House, in the White House, markets will be watching closely for potential challenges to the administration's trade and tariff agenda.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: For the moment, commodity markets have taken the political change largely in stride.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Grain markets are quiet this morning, crude oil is little unchanged, and equities are trading higher.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The larger question now is how Washington's new balance of power ultimately translates into trade, energy, and agricultural policy.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: As markets prepare for another day of trade, producers find themselves weighing two very different kinds of uncertainty.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: One comes from the marketplace itself, changing livestock values, shifting grain prices, and increasingly important signals from the cash and wholesale meat markets.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: The other now comes from Washington, where Tuesday's election has changed the political landscape and may alter the direction of trade and economic policy in the months ahead.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: For American agriculture, those forces have a way of meeting at the same place, the bottom line.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Our task is to understand those risks before they arrive and to prepare accordingly.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is the opening look for November 4th, Wednesday.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Nathan.