Thursday Closing Livestock Market Summary - Cattle Futures Settle Moderately Higher as Traders Wait on Late-Week Cash Development

GENERAL COMMENTS:

Bids and asking prices in feedlot country looked like a carbon copy of the midweek market. Specifically, Northern dressed bids were noted at $180, roughly $3-$5 below area asking prices. Along similar lines, Southern live bids were reported around $112, about $6 short of common asking prices. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $1.18 lower compared with the Prior Day settlement ($49-$55.50, weighted average $54.31). In a bearish surprise, USDA increased its estimate of world ending corn stocks from 159.4 million to 307.51 million metric tons (mmt). Yet the corn board managed to shake off the supply bump and close a penny plus higher. The stock market closed mixed with the Dow up 10 points and the Nasdaq off 39.

LIVE CATTLE:

Waiting for one side or the other to fire opening shots, live traders pretty much sat on their hands through a slow session. When the dust cleared, most contracts had settled moderately higher, up 27 to 55 cents. Beef cut-outs closed significantly lower with the choice off $2.15 ($216.07) and select off $2.66 ($199.11). Box demand was called light to moderate with moderate to heavy offerings.

FRIDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL:

Steady. Cash traders will be back in the old late-week corner Friday with buyers and sellers negotiating around the same terms seen over the last several weeks.

FEEDER CATTLE:

Feeders closed 17 to 45 higher, supported by firmer action in the live market and late-week short-covering. CME cash feeder index: 11/07: $152.23, off $0.65.

LEAN HOGS:

Spot December closed marginally higher (i.e., up 10 cents), supported a bit by the premium of the cash index. On other hand, 2019 contracts attracted plenty of selling interest, off 45 cents to $1.10. The pork carcass value continued to slump lower, pressured by fresh cuts, ribs and bellies. The cut-out totaled $71.57, off $1.18. CME cash lean index for 11/06: $63.72, off $0.28. (DTN Projected Lean Index for 11/07: $63.38, off $0.34).

FRIDAY'S CASH HOG CALL:

Steady-$1 lower. Look for packers to keep hammer in hand just before the weekend break, motivated by ample market hog offerings.

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