Wheat markets were strong over the past week on continued concerns about drought conditions in the country’s southern plains, and as weather forecasters reduced expected rainfall for the week.

Also of concern are the extremely cold temps in Russia and the Ukraine, who are experiencing the coldest winter since 1978/79. Those cold temps are making their way into Eastern Europe, threatening winter wheat plants throughout the region that do not have adequate snow cover.

Corn prices were also higher as crop watchers put out statistics that suggest a large drop in corn acres this spring due to very high fertilizer prices. The soy market was little changed as those same crop watchers take many of those corn acres and put them into bean acres, negating a strong export program this month. Live cattle were slightly lower with feeders unchanged; traders are wary that the high priced beef can hold together in the face of much cheaper pork and poultry. Also pressuring the cattle market was the discovery of banned vertebral beef products in a shipment to Japan, which prompted Japan to again close its borders to U.S. beef after having just reopened it only a month ago.

Energy prices were all over the map in continued volatile trade; weeks of mild winter weather were offset by a continued hostile political climate in several key oil-producing regions.

Metals again pushed higher on the heels of world political unrest, inflation concerns here at home, and a declining dollar which makes it cheaper for foreign investors to buy. The U.S. dollar was lower on continued talk of the FED slowing interest rate hikes while other countries signal that they will raise their rates.