TOP STORIES

BJ's Restaurants Shares Drop After Update, Possible Stock Sale

BJ's Restaurants Inc.'s shares struggled Friday after the restaurant chain warned of a drop in sales in the final quarter of last year and opened the door to an up to $25 million equity raising.

In morning trading, the stock was 4.9% lower at $43.97. It has risen 12% over the past 12 months and is up 14% so far in January.

Bob Evans Recalls About 4,200 Pounds of Sausage Products Due to Possible Presence of Rubber

Bob Evans Farms Inc., part of Post Holdings Inc., is recalling about 4,200 pounds of Italian pork sausage products due to the potential presence of thin blue rubber.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the recalled item has lot code 0352 and a use/freeze by date of Jan. 31. The item was shipped to stores in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

STORIES OF INTEREST

Bank of America Sees US Restaurant Recovery -- Market Talk

13:54 ET - Bank of America says it sees a recovery for US restaurants in 2021 "as consumer comfort with dining out likely recovers and the survivors of the economic and credit crunch take market share." BofA believes 10%-15% of restaurant units closed their doors in 2020. The bank says there is evidence stimulus checks, which mostly hit bank accounts in early January, had an effect on recent spending. Total Bank of America card spending on restaurants over the two weeks ended Saturday was down 10%, versus the 19% decline over the two weeks ended Jan. 2, which included Christmas and New Year's. (michael.dabaie@wsj.com)

Surging Grain Prices Fuel Surprise Farm Recovery

A crop glut that battered American farmers is subsiding, fueling an unexpected recovery in the U.S. Farm Belt following a yearslong agricultural recession.

Prices for corn, soybeans and wheat have soared to their highest levels in more than six years as dry weather and strong export demand from China drain U.S. stockpiles.

FUTURES MARKETS

Livestock Futures Turn Corner as Grains Collapse -- Market Talk

15:12 ET - Steep losses in grains futures helped fuel an uptick in livestock futures Friday. Live cattle futures finished up 2.1% to $1.22575 per pound, while lean hog futures finished up 3% to 76.15 cents per pound. For hog futures, that makes it 7.6% that they've risen since January 15, effectively reversing the negative momentum of the first half of the month. For cattle, trading closed ahead of the release of the USDA's cattle on feed report -- which showed placements of 1.84 million head, the highest for January since 1996. Lower grains futures translates to lower feed costs for livestock producers. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

CASH MARKETS

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jan 22 
 
Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations. 
All figures are on a per-head basis. 
 
Date     Standard Margin       Estimated margin 
         Operating Index         at vertically - 
                             integrated operations 
 
Jan 22       +$ 51.11            +$ 40.71 
Jan 21       +$ 43.45            +$ 39.47 
Jan 20       +$ 39.73            +$ 39.31 
 
* 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  103.7 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)      Select  100.6 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Friday rose $1.62 per hundred pounds, to $222.82, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose $3.06 per hundred pounds, to $213.34. The total load count was 143. Wholesale pork prices rose $2.58, to $81.34 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 22, 2021 17:08 ET (22:08 GMT)

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