Monday Closing Livestock Market Summary - Oversold Meat Futures Stage Decent Early Week Bounce

GENERAL COMMENTS

The cash cattle trade limited efforts to early week maintenance, including the distribution of new showlists. The early month offering appears to be smaller than last week, especially in the South. According to the closing report, the national hog base is .27 higher ($56.00-to-63.00, weighted average $62.34). Corn futures settled about 2 cents higher, closing near a seven-month high. The stock market closed higher with the Dow up 336 points and the Nasdaq better by 72.

LIVE CATTLE

In an initial attempt to shake off the bearish cobwebs, live futures closed mostly 95-to-112 higher. As much of a relief it was for bears to temporarily call off the dogs, little of technical significant changed Monday with April and June still stuck below 40-day and 100-day moving averages. Beef cut-outs: higher, up .20 (select: $214.84) to .71 (choice: $223.23) with light to moderate demand and moderate offerings (47 loads of choice cuts, 24 loads of select cuts, 14 loads of trimmings, nine loads of ground beef).

TUESDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL:

Steady to $2 lower. Activity on Tuesday should remain quiet as buyers and sellers take time to assess this week's potential alignment of cash and board.

FEEDER CATTLE:

Whether just a dead cat bounce or something with more commitment, feeder contacts advanced Monday by 115 to 160 points. While spot March didn't show much life, August demonstrated some chart respect by bouncing off 40-day and 100-day moving averages. On an estimated run of 7,200 head (up from 2,633 last week, but lower than 8,069 in 2017), Oklahoma City sold feeder steers steady to $2 lower, except 700-to-750 pounders were marked steady to $2 higher. Stocker steers and steer calves sold steady to $4 higher. Feeder heifers and heifers calves sold steady to $4 higher. CME cash feeder index: 03/02: 145.44, off .59.

LEAN HOGS:

Lean hog futures powered 22-to-122 points higher, with April through May gaining a substantial amount of ground on deferreds. Nothing of technical significant surfaced, with spring and summer issues still stuck well below multiple levels of overhead chart resistance. Carcass value closed significantly higher, supported by new strength in all primals except the loin. Pork cut-out: $79.62, up $1.51. CME cash lean index for 03/01: 68.09, off .27 (DTN Projected lean index for 03/02: 67.69, off .40).

TUESDAY'S CASH HOG CALL:

Steady. The cash hog market seems set to opening with generally steady bids in the morning.