GENERAL COMMENTS:
As more and more time passes, the livestock sector is seeming to shake the scare of the coronavirus and is starting to rebuild assurance in the marketplace. Thursday's gains were fruitful through all three livestock contracts and very well could trickle into Friday's trade. Hog prices are higher on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, up $0.28 with a weighted average of $48.68. March corn is down 3 1/2 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $0.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 128.11 points and NASDAQ is down 13.99 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
It's relatively a quiet Thursday for the cash cattle market as most of the week's trade is wrapped up and done for the week. A few pens traded dressed cattle in the North for $190, a solid $3.00 lower than last week's weighted average. The future's complex is where the positivity was found Thursday as contracts were able to keep the momentum through closing and closed anywhere from $0.40 to $1.40 higher. February live cattle are up $0.50 at $119.45, April live cattle are up $0.67 at $118.52 and June live cattle are up $0.70 at $110.62. With a bottom seeming to be found in the market, it's encouraging for producers to see prices starting to crawl back up and knowing in the back of their mind that the market is current on fat cattle. If the board can climb out of the hole that the announcement of the coronavirus started, cash cattle prices should be able to follow the futures market's lead.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $0.14 ($206.45) and select down $1.51 ($203.79) with a movement of 131 loads (80.34 loads of choice, 18.23 loads of select, 21.00 loads of trim and 10.96 loads of ground beef). Thursday's slaughter is estimated at 121,000 head, steady with last week and 2,000 head more than a year ago.
FRIDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady. Seeing that cash cattle trade is largely done for the week, if any trade occurs Friday it will most likely be in the already established price ranges and clean up in nature.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Feeder cattle contracts had a strong close with nearly all contracts closing with at least $1.00 gains. March feeders are up $1.27 at $136.32, April feeders are up $1.77 at $138.95 and May feeders are up $1.77 at $140.82. As firmer support builds in the livestock complex, feeder cattle contracts are seeing some positive gains, and with lighter runs of feeder cattle offered this week, sale barns that haven't been hit with too much snow are seeing some stronger prices as well.
On Wednesday, at Winter Livestock in Dodge City, Kansas, 3,270 head of feeders sold in comparison to last week feeder steers sold $2.00 to $3.00 higher, heifers sold mostly higher. Weaned steers sold mostly $2.00 to $3.00 higher. Heifer calves had a stronger undertone noted. Demand was noted to be good and quality was impressive. The CME feeder cattle index 2-12-2020: not available at this time.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog market was able to also capitalize on the market's building support, as interest keeps developing and slowly driving prices higher. Friday the February lean hog contract expires and the spot month will roll to the April 2020 contract. April lean hogs are up $0.30 at $64.07, May lean hogs are down $0.10 at $72.80 and June lean hogs are up $0.17 at $81.02. Pork cutouts totaled 312.87 loads with 263.91 loads of pork cuts and 48.96 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.86, $63.10. Thursday's slaughter is estimated at 490,000 head, 3,000 head less than last week and 19,000 head more than a year ago. The CME lean hog index 2-22-2020: down $0.61, $57.32.
FRIDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Slightly higher. Seeing that the market is building support and packers continue to be interested in buying pork to keep processing speeds elevated, it's not unlikely that cash hog prices could be slighter higher.
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