Wednesday Closing Livestock Market Summary

GENERAL COMMENTS

Cash cattle trading Wednesday was limited to several thousand steers and heifers in parts of the North. Most dressed deals ranged from $175-$177, roughly $7-$9 lower than last week's weighted average basis Nebraska. A few live sales in the area were reported at $110-$111, $4-$5 lower. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.48 lower ($71-$78, weighted average $76.58). The corn market settled several cents lower, pressured by generally positive growing conditions. The stock market closed higher with the Dow up 25 points and the Nasdaq positive by 12.

LIVE CATTLE

Live contracts settled 57 to 207 lower with deferreds losing ground to the nearbys. Signs that feedlot cash will be sharply lower this week obviously made bears braver in reasserting late-summer and fall discounts. Beef cut-outs: significantly lower, off $0.83 (select, $195.04) to $1.44 (choice, $197.51) with light-to-moderate demand and heavy offerings (130 loads of choice cuts, 26 loads of select cuts, 15 loads of trimmings, 31 loads of ground beef).

THURSDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL:

Steady/weak with Wednesday's decline. Look for cash volume to pick up Thursday, especially in the South, with feedlot managers trying to work with bids substantial below last week.

FEEDER CATTLE

Feeders didn't have long to admire Tuesday's rally. Prices quickly crash, closing 310 to 362 points with the help of long liquidation and technical selling. Acting as if Tuesday's bullish party never happened, September through November settled way below 100-day averages. CME cash feeder index: 08/15: $144.49, off $0.83.

LEAN HOGS

Lean hog issues closed 25 to 175 lower, essentially reversing all progress made Tuesday. Fear of deteriorating fundamentals continues to support deep board discounts. For the week ending Aug. 12, Iowa barrows and gilts averaged 276.6 pounds, 1.1 pounds heavier than the prior week and 2 pounds greater than last year. Carcass value imploded thanks essentially to a $13.59 crash in the belly primal. Pork cut-out: $91.55, off $2.30. CME cash lean index for 08/14: $84.38, off $0.40 (DTN Projected lean index for 08/15: $84.03, off $0.35).

THURSDAY'S CASH HOG CALL:

$1-$2 lower. Between the large country run at midweek and sharp drop in carcass value, opening bids in the morning could be substantially lower.