Strong gains have quickly moved into lean hog trade midmorning with triple-digit gains replacing the sharp triple-digit losses that developed early Wednesday morning. There continues to be underlying concern that additional wide market swings could instantly develop based on currently emotionally charged market structure. Cattle trade remains under light pressure Wednesday. Corn futures are higher in light trade. May corn futures are 1 1/4 cent higher. Stock markets are mixed in light trade. Dow Jones is 10 points lower with Nasdaq up 35 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Buyers have slowly moved into the market with traders backing away from early-morning losses. The renewed support in lean hog trade through the morning seems to be allowing some spill-over confidence to move into nearby live cattle trade. April futures remain lightly traded, but are leading the complex with a 27 cent gain. These gains are offset by losses of 20 to 50 cents developing across the rest of the complex. Very little general market news has developed over the last couple of weeks with beef values chopping around within a moderate range based on current supplies and short term demand. Cash cattle trade has started to slowly develop in the south with 2000 head reported sold in Kansas Wednesday morning at $124 per cwt. These prices are fully steady with last week. For a third week in a row, cattle trade has started to develop on Wednesday. It is uncertain if this will continue to spark additional interest, or if packers will become less aggressive until the end of the week, similar to weeks past. Other bids are seen in the north with live bids at $127 and dressed bids at $203 per cwt. This could spark some additional underlying support through the rest of the week. Boxed Beef cut-outs at midday are higher, $0.52 higher (select) and up $0.44 per cwt (choice) with light movement of 78 total loads reported (42 loads of choice cuts, 20 loads of select cuts, no loads of trimmings, 16 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Moderate pressure quickly developed in feeder cattle trade as traders continue to slowly back away from recent gains seen over the last couple of weeks. Even with current market pressure, feeder cattle trade remains stuck within a wide sideways trading range. This could add even more market shifts through the month of April. Traders are also expecting increased overall placement levels to be seen through the rest of the spring, but this is still not expected to spark widespread market movements at this point. May futures have posted $1 per cwt losses, but the $149 per cwt price threshold seems to be holding. This is still well above short-term support levels of $147.27 per cwt.
LEAN HOGS:
Active buyer support has quickly moved back into the complex Wednesday morning following strong triple-digit losses. Traders are trying to regain market stability following limit losses Tuesday as nearby and deferred futures are holding onto triple-digit gains from $1 to $2 per cwt higher. With no new information developing surrounding a trade agreement with China and traders cautiously waiting for export sales report to see if additional China pork sales developed through the week. This could continue to keep markets very volatile over the next several days or weeks. Cash prices are higher on the National Direct morning cash hog report. The weighted average price added $0.29 at $75.50 per cwt with the range from $67.00 to $78.00, on 6,042 head reported sold. Cash prices are unreported due to confidentiality on the Iowa/Minnesota Direct morning cash hog report. Pork values rallied higher midweek. Pork cutouts added $2.34 per cwt at $85.45 per cwt with 134 loads traded. Lean hog index for 4/8 is $78.89 up 0.21, with a projected two-day index is delayed.
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