Monday's pressured market isn't nearing the noon hour with any more vigor than how it initially opened. The cash cattle market is quiet; as expected, but the cash hog market was tough -- painfully tough as only 420 head sold. With more and more plants shutting down the packer's hands are tied as to how many market ready animals they can step up and purchase. May corn is down 1 cent per bushel and May soybean meal is down $3.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 388.82 points and NASDAQ is down 30.28 points.
LIVE CATTLE
Live cattle contracts have followed suit with the day's attitude and are trading sharply lower. April live cattle are down $3.00 at $91.00, June live cattle down $3.00 at $81.37 and August live cattle down $3.00 at $87.75. This week will be one to watch as packing plants across the nation try to balance the need of keeping people fed, but the struggle of keeping their employees safe and free of the coronavirus. Feedlots look at the situation and get queasy as we roll into a season where readily available fat cattle supplies are abundant. It would be one thing if the market was tight and there wasn't an immense amount of cattle to be harvested -- but unfortunately that's not the case. New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Nebraska/Colorado, somewhat larger in Kansas, but lower in Texas.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $2.63 ($226.56) and select up $2.35 ($210.68) with a movement of 59 loads (41.51 loads of choice, 5.70 loads of select, 4.74 loads of trim and 6.72 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE
Feeder cattle prices are about as unenthused with Monday and the current situation of the marketplace as any other market is. The entire complex trades limit lower and sale barns are worrisome about this week's sales as buying is tough in this environment. April feeders are down $4.50 at $115.02, May feeders are down $4.50 at $114.45 and August feeders are down $4.50 at $124.37.
LEAN HOGS
Monday starts the week with newly adjusted limits as the contract used to trade to a $3.00 limit but will now be able to trade to $3.75, and the prior expanded limit of $4.50 is not adjusted to $5.50. The lean hog complex is trading mostly lower as the Monday enters the noon hour. April lean hogs (which expire Wednesday) are up $1.50 at $44.30, June lean hogs are down $3.75 at $44.92 and July lean hogs are down $3.47 at $51.27. With the amount of uncertainty that keeps mounding in the market, both cash prices and the board's prices drop lower and lower.
The projected two-day lean hog index for 4/10/2020 is down $1.37 at $48.02, and the actual index for 4/9/2020 is down $1.72 at $49.40. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $0.94 with a weighted average of $39.03, ranging from $37.50 to $40.75 on 470 sold and a five-day rolling average of $41.24. Pork cutouts totaled 242.55 loads with 215.99 loads of pork cuts and 26.56 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.86, $51.93.
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