GENERAL COMMENTS:
As the market continues to spiral lower, the questions of "how much more" sifts through everyone's mind. Wednesday felt enormous pressure to trade lower and drove multiple contracts to establish new lows. Cattle contracts suffered far worse than the lean hog market did through Wednesday's close. Hog prices close higher on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, up $1.34 with a weighted average of $53.96. May corn is down 3 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $0.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1,464.94 points and NASDAQ is down 392.20 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle contracts suffered from Wednesday's midweek weakness much like the feeder cattle contracts. April and June live cattle contracts tested the already established support planes, but closed without establishing new lows. August and October live cattle contracts but scaled lower and set new life of the contract lows. As time keeps passing, the wonder of, "how much more" zings across everyone's mind. From the board's perspective, equity is being lost, and from a cash market perspective, current trade is suffering and the long-term effects of this upcoming summer's trade worries everyone as well.
April live cattle closed $2.37 lower at $103.07, June live cattle closed $2.27 lower at $97.25 and August live cattle closed $3.00 lower at $96.67. There was only a light to moderate run of cash cattle sold Wednesday with live cattle in the South selling for $110, $3.00 lower than last week's weighted average and Northern cattle sold mostly at $175 dressed which is $6.00 lower than last week's weighted average.
Boxed beef prices closed mixed: choice up $0.08 ($207.17) and select down $2.22 ($196.49) with a movement of 154 loads (74.10 loads of choice, 27.89 loads of select, 17.61 loads of trim and 34.24 loads of ground beef). Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 123,000 head, 1,000 head more than a week ago and 13,000 head more than a year ago.
THURSDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady with the week's already established trade.
FEEDER CATTLE:
To call Wednesday's feeder cattle market anything but brutal would be false. The board has been trading lower for the better part of the last two months, but Wednesday feeder cattle contracts established new, life of the contract lows in the March, April, May, October, November and even into the January 2021 contract. March feeders closed $4.42 lower at $123.32, April feeders closed $4.42 lower at $123.52 and May feeders closed $4.50 lower at $125.25.
At Huss livestock Market in Kearney, Nebraska, compared to last week grass cattle sold unevenly steady and feeder cattle traded $3.00 to $8.00 lower. Demand was moderate on grass cattle, but it was sparse on feeder cattle; which is believed to be because of the fear of what the boards going to do in the midst of the coronavirus. The CME feeder cattle index 3/10/2020: down $0.21, $133.05.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog market may have closed a touch lower, but it didn't suffer nearly as bad as the cattle contracts did. And despite the entire market being in utter disorder, the cash hog market was able to close the day with substantially higher pushing afternoon cash prices up $1.34. April lean hogs closed $1.12 lower at $63.87, June lean hogs closed $0.50 lower at $78.80 and July lean hogs closed unchanged at $80.00. Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 487,000 head, 8,000 head less than a week ago and 31,000 head more than a year ago. Pork cutouts total 301.11 loads with 271.98 loads of pork cuts and 29.13 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.86, $68.82. The CME lean hog index 3/9/2020: up $0.18, $57.27.
THURSDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Steady. Seeing that pork cutout values are trending higher leads one to believe that even in the midst of the market's current situation, cash hog prices may stand a fighting chance at holding their ground.
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