GENERAL COMMENTS:
Cattle contracts have officially passed the midweek point fully higher so far through the entirety of the week, but with the later part of the week nearing, producers are eyeing the market carefully. Unfortunately, the same good luck can't be said about the lean hog market. Contracts tell midmorning and cash prices continue to weaken. Hog prices closed lower on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $0.30 with a weighted average of $40.32. May corn is down 1 1/2 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $1.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 779.71 points and NASDAQ is up 203.64 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle contracts rang the bell again through Wednesday's close, but the cash market still seems unenthused as a light run of cattle traded lower again. April live cattle contracts closed $4.50 higher at $92.82, June live cattle closed $1.87 higher at $86.67 and August live cattle closed $2.87 higher at $92.20. As the live cattle complex knocks on the fourth day of the week, there's a healthy possibility it could trade lower with lower cash prices, but then again, the week has been positive and given that it's a shortened holiday week, typical behavior doesn't necessarily apply. There was light trade of live cattle again in Texas, Nebraska and Kansas all at $105, $4.00 lower than last week's weighted average. There was also some dressed trade that developed in the North at $168, $6.00 lower than last week's average.
Boxed beef cutouts are lower: choice down $5.54 ($222.34) and select down $5.98 ($211.77) with a movement of 145 loads (69.57 loads of choice, 21.99 loads of select, 12.06 loads of trim and 41.15 loads of ground beef). Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 102,000 head, 14,000 head less than a week ago and 19,000 head less than a year ago.
THURSDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Lower. Seeing that it's a shortened week and packers have been processing smaller kills all week long would lead one to believe that Thursday will be much of the same as little offerings of trade have already developed consistently around the countryside for $4.00 to $6.00 lower than last week's average.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Another day and another jump higher has served the feeder cattle market well as contracts closed the day substantially higher. April feeders closed $4.95 higher at $119.87, May feeders closed $5.57 higher at $119.37 and August feeders closed $6.55 higher at $127.55. With looming resistance is around $140.00 and $155.00, the market has some ground to gain before it has to really prove its movement. At this point, producers pray that the market turns around so that early summer sales have a fair chance. At Winter Livestock in Dodge City, Kansas, compared to last week, feeder steers sold mostly $4.00 to $6.00 higher. Feeder heifers sold mostly $6.00 to $8.00 higher. There weren't enough comparable weights to accurately test steer calves, but lower undertones were noted. Heifer calves sold mostly $3.00 to $5.00 higher. Slaughter cows sold $4.00 to $6.00 lower, and bulls also showed lower tones. The CME feeder cattle index 4/7/2020: not available at this time.
LEAN HOGS:
Lean hog contracts closed the day lower on both the cash market and futures board. April lean hogs closed $1.00 lower at $43.12, June lean hogs closed $1.20 lower at $51.45 and July lean hogs closed $0.92 lower at $56.85. It's positive to see that packers kept Wednesday's harvest elevated with last week's pace as the rest of the week has been lower in both the hog and cattle markets. Pork cutouts total 473.91 loads with 443.25 loads of pork cuts and 30.66 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $3.32, $51.41. Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 478,000 head, 2,000 head more than a week ago and 2,000 head less than a year ago. The CME lean hog index 4/6/2020: down $2.13, $55.52.
THURSDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Lower. Seeing that the board is teetering lower and that cash prices were weaker, while the cattle contracts grew stronger, would most likely indicate that traders are more interested in chasing the cattle contracts right now.
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