Thursday Closing Livestock Market Summary

GENERAL COMMENTS

The cash cattle trade remained very slow with just a handful of dressed deals reported in parts of the North at $188 (steady with Wednesday, but $2 lower than last week). According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.51 lower ($79.00-85.50, weighted average $84.28). Corn futures closed nearly 8 cents higher, sparked by extreme heat and growing crop concerns. The stock market closed mixed with the Dow off 28 points and the Nasdaq up 4.

LIVE CATTLE

Easy come, easy go? Live futures closed sharply lower (i.e., off mostly 107 to 180), quickly surrendering pretty much all of a yesterday’s impressive rally. As feared, spot August ran out of gas near the long-held line of technical resistance just under $118.50.

Beef cut-outs: narrowly mixed, up $0.09 (select, $195.58) to off $0.08 (choice, $207.65) with moderate demand and heavy offerings (88 loads of choice cuts, 55 loads of select cuts, zero loads of trimmings, 25 loads of ground beef).

FRIDAY’S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady to $2 lower. With both sides still needing to do business, someone will have to blink in the late week showdown. Given the reluctance of both sides, chances are that final trade volume for the week will still remain relatively limited when the dust finally settles.

FEEDER CATTLE

Like their live counterparts, feeder contracts were rapidly knocked back from the midweek advance, closing off 205 to 235.

Spec selling and long liquidation were no doubt partially fueled by another round of strong gains in the corn market. CME cash feeder index: 07/19: $147.22, off $1.94.

LEAN HOGS

Lean hog futures closed mixed with the final price spread (i.e., up 22 to off 147) nearly the mirror image of the scatter generated on Wednesday. Spot August and October attracted the most selling interest as traders worried about the timing of large seasonal pork tonnage. Carcass value closed moderately lower with higher bellies overshadowed by weaker ribs, butts, picnics and hams. Pork cut-out: $104.02, off $0.67. CME cash lean index for 07/18: $92.40, off $0.06 (DTN Projected lean index for 07/19: $92.00, off $0.40).

THURSDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Steady to $0.50 lower. Look for late week bids to be steady to soft now that packers have most of their slaughter needs covered.