In Wednesday's noon hour there is some support building in the cattle contracts while the lean hog sector continues to trade mostly lower. The longevity of the support in the cattle sector continues to be a big question as there hasn't been a resolution for the packing plants and the cash market looks to be developing lower again this week. May corn is up 6 1/2 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $2.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 460.77 points and NASDAQ is up 196.03 points.
LIVE CATTLE
Markets continue to trade sporadically as cash cattle dip lower and the board trades higher. June live cattle are up $0.65 at $84.67, August live cattle are up $0.87 at $89.32 and October live cattle are up $0.82 at $94.60. There were very few cattle that sold on the FCE Wednesday morning and though the trend seems to be aligning for a weaker cash cattle market, some positivity on the board is always helpful -- now how long the optimism will stay is another question. The countryside is still mostly quiet with asking prices around $105 to $108 in the South and $168 in the North.
Wednesday's Fed Cattle Exchange Auction listed a total of 4,671 head of which 860 head sold. Delivery for 1-9 day: 726 head total, 449 head sold with a weighted average price of $100; 10-17-day delivery 174 head total, no sales reported; one-17-day delivery 3771 head total, 411 head sold with a weighted average prices of $92.67. Asking prices ranged from $92.25 to $105.
Boxed beef values are higher: choice up $11.14 ($270.99) and select up $5.59 ($254.41) with a movement of 39 loads (18.51 loads of choice, 4.88 loads of select, 3.60 loads of trim and 11.74 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE
Feeder cattle contracts have traded both sides of steady Wednesday morning but head into the noon hour fully higher. May feeders are up $1.10 at $117.97, August feeders are up $0.82 at $127.67 and September feeders are up $0.70 at $129.12. Thankfully cow-calf producers can buy themselves a little bit of time and see how the market progresses by putting their calves out on grass instead of looking at feedlots. Once things settle into some normalcy, feedlots will be able to buy again when they have room and an end destination.
LEAN HOGS
The lean hog market continues to ease lower throughout the day in all contracts. June lean hogs are down $0.22 at $47.92, July lean hogs are down $1.00 at $51.92 and August lean hogs are down $1.72 at $55.45. Adding to some of the complex's pressure Wednesday morning Tyson announced that they would be shutting down their pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, (which processes 19,500/day) due to worker absenteeism and COVID-19 health concerns growing.
The projected lean hog index for 4/21/2020 is up $0.59 at $45.36 and the actual index for 4/20/2020 is up $0.22 at $44.77. Hog prices are not reportable Wednesday morning due to confidentiality. Pork cutouts total 160.69 loads with 132.42 loads of pork cuts and 28.27 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.62, $71.57.
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