GENERAL COMMENTS:
Thursday's market acted like a crazy old uncle does sometimes. The uncle has been pulling his weight lately and making the grand scheme of life seem a little brighter. But, low and behold we knew that he would go off on a drunk bender simply because the man can't function when things go well. Never the less, prices have been relatively good in the livestock complex and a correction was bound to happen. Regardless of if we wanted to admit that we knew the correction was coming or not, lower prices sting regardless if they come in the middle of the night or with a clear explanation. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report Thursday, down $0.81 with a weighted average of $57.87. December corn is up 3 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is up $2.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 23.90 points and NASDAQ is up 32.67 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle contracts fared the day best. Most contracts closed 5 cents to 52 cents lower, except for October live cattle which closed up 5 cents at $112.40, and December live cattle which made an impressive Thursday afternoon recovery and closed 50 cents higher at $114.37. Thursday's slaughter totaled 111,000 head (6,000 lower than last week). A lower slaughter was to be expected with the closing of the Cargill plant in Dodge City, Kansas, after a standalone building exploded earlier Thursday. The countryside remains pretty quiet with the only bids placed in Nebraska and Iowa at $175 which is $3.00 to $5.00 lower than asking prices. Closing boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.17 ($218.11) and select up $1.23 ($192.60) with a boxed beef movement of 146 total loads (86.98 loads of choice, 27.91 loads of select, 7.06 loads of trim and 23.81 loads of ground beef).
FRIDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady. Depending on how the future's board performs Friday will largely indicate how fat cattle trade. At this point steady money is a safe bet.
FEEDER CATTLE:
The futures board wasn't gratifying for the feeder cattle market Thursday. Losses ranged anywhere from $1.00 to $1.60 on all contracts. October feeder cattle closed at $144.20, down $1.02, and November feeder cattle closed at $144.32, down $1.60. On an estimated run of 10,284 feeders (up 1,977 head from the previous week) OKC West in El Reno, Oklahoma, sold feeder steers and heifers $2.00 to $4.00 higher with some steadiness on steers over 900 pounds. Demand was good and quality was average. Long weaned steers and heifers sold mostly steady, whereas unweaned fleshier calves sold with a lower undertone as buyers know the two to three weeks those calves are going to go backwards before they start putting pounds on again. CME feeder cattle index 10/16/19: up $0.03 at $145.15.
LEAN HOGS:
Closing the day at the lowest mark all week, for lack of a better description, the spot lean hog contract took a beating. December lean hogs closed $2.47 lower at $68.15 and the rest of the contracts ranged $0.05 to $1.32 lower, except for December 2020, which was up five cents. The lean hog market cries for export opportunities. Domestic hog numbers are growing, and packers' hands are tied with what to do until they're able to ship some protein out internationally. The current situation of buying hogs lower and filling the cooler will only depress the market more. Pork cutouts totaled 360.81 loads with 304.89 loads of pork cuts and 55.91 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.44 at $76.28. CME lean hog index 10/15/19: up $1.02 at $63.94.
FRIDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: $1 lower. Until export opportunities arrive, lower money can be expected.
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