GENERAL COMMENTS:
Thursday came and went, leaving the complex undecided on how fat cattle should trade and leaving the board largely mixed. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $0.11 with a weighted average of $47.94. March corn is up 6 1/2 cents per bushel and January soybean meal is down $0.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 201.63 points and NASDAQ is up 49.65 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle contracts closed slightly better than they opened (mostly lower), but a handful of deferred contracts closed slightly higher. December live cattle closed $0.15 lower at $120.42, February live cattle closed $0.22 lower at $125.10 and April live cattle closed $0.32 higher at $126.20. A light to moderate offering of cash cattle traded Thursday afternoon around the noon hour; pens sold for $119 in the South, which is considered fully steady with last week's weighted average. Other feeders continue to hold out for earlier asking prices; $121 to $122 in the South and $190 to $192 in the North.
Closing boxed beef prices closed lower: choice down $3.00 ($215.65) and select down $1.16 ($202.56) with a total movement of 207 loads (133.07 loads of choice, 22.71 loads of select, 7.86 loads of trim and 43.75 loads of ground beef). Thursday's slaughter is estimated at 121,000 head - 1,000 head more than a week ago and steady with a year ago.
FRIDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady to $1.00 higher. Feeders hate it when it looks like a waiting game will rally for higher prices and a few folks sell-out for steady prices. Friday will be a coin toss: if the board grows stronger it's very likely that somewhere between steady and asking prices is where cash prices could fall. If the board continues to fall weaker, pulling full asking prices will be tough given that packers have gotten to buy some cattle at steady.
FEEDER CATTLE:
The chime of the noon bell allowed feeder cattle contracts to find some mild support in April through September 2020 contracts. As for the rest of the feeder cattle complex, mild losses captured the day. January feeder cattle sold $0.22 lower at $142.55, March feeders sold $0.22 lower at $143.45 and April feeders sold a tick higher at $145.57, up just $0.10 to close the day.
On an estimated run of 3,600 head, Bassett, Nebraska, sold steers weighing 600 to 650 pounds compared to last week $3.00 to $8.00 lower, heifers weighing 555 pounds sold $5.00 lower. Sale barns start to look towards the end of the year and most only note one more sale before the New Year. The CME feeder cattle index 12/11/19: not available at this time.
LEAN HOGS:
Lean hog contracts were able to keep most of day's rally, closing modestly higher in nearby contracts and only lower in the furthest deferred contract. December lean hogs closed $0.30 higher at $61.00, February lean hogs closed $0.92 higher at $68.65 and April lean hogs closed $0.37 higher at $74.62. Pork cutouts totaled 284.82 loads with 248.45 loads of pork cuts and 36.38 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.53 at $81.66.
Thursday's hog slaughter is estimated at 495,000 head, 1,000 head less than a week ago and 17,000 head more than a year ago. Wednesday's hog slaughter was revised to 489,000 head. The CME lean hog index 12/10/19: down $0.01 at $59.46.
FRIDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Steady. Though the board read green Thursday, seeing a loss in cutout values makes it tough for packers to pay more for hogs.
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