GENERAL COMMENTS:
Hang in there folks, the holidays are always
tough to watch the market, but at least in a little over a week we will
be welcoming the New Year and all that it has to offer. Hog prices are
higher on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, up $0.47 with a
weighted average of $48.31. March corn is up 1 cent per bushel and
January soybean meal is up $3.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up
96.44 points and NASDAQ is up 20.69 points.
*** In Observation of the Federal holidays, all
USDA reports will not be issued December 24 or 25. DTN will still cover
the futures markets and cash markets on December 24 and resume a normal
schedule Thursday, December 26.
LIVE CATTLE:
Holidays are tough on the livestock markets, but
it was nice to see some packer inquiry early in the week. Packers
started to call around to see what was offered this week in hopes that
they could get business done early in the week as opposed to waiting
until after the Christmas holiday. Live cattle contracts closed mixed
with a few contracts being able to close mildly higher. December live
cattle closed $0.17 higher at $ 122.40, February live cattle closed
$0.12 lower at $125.67 and April live cattle closed $0.07 lower at
$126.65. No cash cattle traded, but it is expected that bids will
surface sometime Tuesday.
Closing boxed beef prices are higher: choice up
$0.71 ($209.70) and select up $0.04 ($201.03) with a movement of 117
loads (72.25 loads of choice, 12.38 loads of select, 8.84 loads of trim
and 23.37 loads of ground beef). Monday's slaughter is estimated at
113,000 head, down 7,000 head from a week ago.
TUESDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady to $1.00
higher. Packers have cattle committed for delivery this week, but in
order to stay stocked for the first of the year kills, packers will need
to pick up some cattle this week and the anticipation is that cattle
will be fully steady to some higher.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Feeder cattle markets were the only sector
unable to close with some positive contracts. January feeders closed
$0.75 lower at $143.52, March feeders closed $0.65 lower at $143.72 and
April feeders closed $0.55 lower at $145.95. All in all, it wouldn't be
surprising to see feeder cattle contracts either continue this sideways
patter through the end of the year, or test the market modestly higher
if live cash cattle markets pull the whole complex higher, but with sale
barns shutdown until the first of the year, the board will most likely
be mundane as well. The CME feeder cattle index 12/20/19: $145.98, $0.31
lower.
LEAN HOGS:
Closing more positively than it initially
opened, hog contracts were able to close higher except for the spot
February contract. February lean hogs closed $0.42 lower at $70.25,
April lean hogs closed $0.05 higher at $77.55 and May lean hogs closed
$0.20 higher at $83.90. Pork cutouts totaled 379.34 loads with 350.04
loads of pork cuts and 29.31 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.29
at $76.83. Monday's slaughter is estimated at 497,000 head, 5,000 head
more than a week ago. The CME lean hog index: $59.87, down $0.36.
Monday's Quarterly Hog Report shared that:
United States inventory was up 3% from a year
ago, but down slightly from September 1, 2019. Breeding inventory was up
2% from last year and slightly up from the previous quarter. Market hog
inventory was up 3% from a year ago, but down slightly from last
quarter. The September-November 2019 pig crop was up 2% from last year.
The average pigs saved per litter was a record high of 11.09 for the
September-November period, compared to 10.76 last year.
TUESDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Steady. Tuesday may be able to capture another day of positive cash hog prices.
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