TOP STORIES

Animal Antibiotic Sales Decline, FDA Says -- Market Talk

16:18 ET - Pressure on restaurants, food makers and meatpackers to scale back use of antibiotics in raising livestock and poultry seems to be having an effect. The Food and Drug Administration reports a 14% decline from 2015 to 2016 in the meat industry's use of medically important antibiotics, which are used to treat illnesses in humans. The meat industry's use of such drugs to keep animals healthy and help them gain weight faster has drawn growing pushback from consumer groups and public health advocates who say overuse of antibiotics generally can make them less effective in battling dangerous maladies. Meat companies including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride and Perdue Farms have moved to reduce antibiotic use, mainly in poultry so far. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

Consumer Trends Impacting Agricultural Commodities -- Market Talk

15:34 ET - The gluten-free trend has nothing to do with the price of wheat but like other consumer trends, it is impacting markets for the underlying commodity, with US consumption of wheat down 10% from its highs, Rabobank's Nick Fereday says. Meanwhile butter's share is at a two-decade high, when at one point margarine controlled 74% of that market. About 10% of the dairy market has been replaced by plant-based alternatives, he says. Demand for bacon, which comes from the fattiest cut of the hog, is upending an industry that spent decades breeding pigs to be leaner. (julie.wernau@wsj.com)

STORIES OF INTEREST

Soybean Traders Ease Bets on Bad Weather

Soybean futures fell as traders pulled back from recent weather-related buying.

Oilseed futures for January fell 1.1% to $9.92 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade, with traders taking profits after the market hit a multimonth high earlier this week.

CFTC to Update FSOC on Rule Simplification -- Market Talk

17:26 ET - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will provide an update on its efforts to simplify regulatory compliance at a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council next Thursday. Under Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, the CFTC launched a "Keep It Simple Stupid" initiative to update existing agency rules that may have become outdated or are unnecessarily complex. The effort received the support of the only Democratic commissioner when it was approved, given the narrow tailoring of the initiative to focus on compliance burdens rather than a broad rule rollback. (gabriel.rubin@wsj.com; @rubinations)

FUTURES MARKETS

Livestock Futures Fall on Tepid Demand

Lower beef and physical cattle prices continued to weigh down the futures market.

Cattle futures have mostly fallen since last Thursday as traders reacted to soft demand by unwinding optimistic bets. Hedge funds in particular are liquidating their long positions in live cattle futures, analysts said, and others have reacted to trading patterns that suggested prices were trending lower.

CASH MARKETS

 
Zumbrota, Minn Hog Steady At $36.00 - Dec 7 
 
  Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today 
are steady at $36.00 per hundredweight. 
 
Sow prices are steady. Sows weighing 400-450 pounds are at $33.00-$34.00, 
450-500 pounds are $33.00-$34.00 and those over 500 pounds are 
$35.00-$37.00. 
 
The day's total run is estimated at 150 head. 
 
Prices are provided by the Central Livestock Association. 
 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Dec 7 
 
All figures are on a per-head basis. 
 
Date     Standard Margin       Estimated margin 
         Operating Index         at vertically - 
                             integrated operations 
                                      * 
Dec  7       +$47.56             +$ 48.33 
Dec  6       +$43.54             +$ 46.63 
Dec  5       +$46.91             +$ 50.80 
 
* 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  107.6 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select  106.1 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Thursday fell $1.32 per hundred pounds, to $205.08, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices fell 28 cents per hundred pounds, to $183.83. The total load count was 117. Wholesale pork prices rose 79 cents, to $82.88 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 07, 2017 17:54 ET (22:54 GMT)