GENERAL COMMENTS:
Cattle contracts pushed higher and the lean hog market opted to do the same in nearby contracts while deferred contracts dipped slightly lower. Cash cattle have yet to trade, putting a lot of pressure on Friday. Feeders are praying that the board opens Friday with the same momentum and packers are hoping that it is a weird holiday fluke. Cash hog prices are not available at this time. March corn is up 1 cent per bushel and March soybean meal is down $2.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 105.94 points and NASDAQ is up 69.51 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The board closed substantially higher for the day and fat cattle have yet to sell, leading Friday to be an eventful day. December live cattle closed $0.62 higher at $123.27, February live cattle closed $0.97 higher at $126.80 and April live cattle closed $0.85 higher at $127.65. Etching closer to the heavy resistance plane at $130.00, live cattle contracts closed another successful day and if able to find the support again Friday, should push cash prices higher. There was a little more trade in Iowa again at $122.00, fully steady with last week's weighted average.
Tuesday's slaughter was estimated at 30,000 head, there was nothing processed on Wednesday and Thursday's estimated slaughter is at 120,000 head.
Closing boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $1.42 ($210.15) and select up $0.61 ($205.25) with a significant movement of 202 loads (133.77 loads of choice, 23.47 loads of select, 10.67 loads of trim and 34.32 loads of ground beef).
FRIDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: $1.00 to $2.00 higher. Friday will be a bid day for cash cattle trade. We know that packers need cattle given their early inquiries and feeders have plenty to give with show lists plenty full. Seeing that Thursday's movement of boxed beef was large, it will boost moral about beef demand and should help feeders pinch prices higher.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Closing the day with the highest marks, feeder cattle contracts rallied prices almost $2.00 higher in some contracts. January feeders closed $1.87 higher at $145.45, March feeders closed $1.50 higher at $145.17 and April feeders closed $1.52 higher at $147.52. It makes sense that the feeder cattle rallied side by side the live cattle market, but some of the market's ambition may be holiday driven and we could see some of Thursday's gains potentially given back in the next little while. The CME feeder cattle index 12/25/19: 145.81, down $0.12.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog market kept the day's initial market and closed mixed with nearby contracts higher and deferred contracts lower. February lean hogs closed $0.20 higher at $70.90, April lean hogs closed $0.27 higher at $78.27 and May lean hogs closed steady at $84.50. Pork cutouts had a huge day totaling 530.40 loads with 485.93 loads of pork cuts and 44.48 loads of trim. Pork cutouts values: down $1.05 at $75.78. Tuesday's slaughter was estimated at 145,000 head, plants were shut down on Wednesday and Thursday's slaughter is estimated at 493,000 head. The CME lean hog index 12/23/19: $59.09 up $0.02.
FRIDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Higher undertones. The market had some catching up to do in meat sales and that makes sense as to why so many loads of pork sold. However, the fact that there still is strong demand for protein leads one to think that cash sales could have a positive undertone for the week's end.
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