GENERAL COMMENTS
As Thursday nears the noon hour contracts are sticking with their preestablished tune; cattle contracts are trading higher while the lean hog contracts trade lower. Some of the excitement in the cattle contracts is coming from the advancement in cash prices seen Wednesday afternoon, and it could also be supported by the announcement made late Wednesday afternoon that President Trump asked the Department of Justice to investigate meatpackers. July corn is up 4 3/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $0.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 411.96 points and NASDAQ is up 149.21 points.
LIVE CATTLE
Live cattle contracts are rallying side by side the feeder cattle contracts and look to move prices higher undoubtedly. June live cattle are up $4.50 at $93.97, August live cattle are up $4.32 at $99.87 and October live cattle are up $3.60 at $103.10. As the industry pulls contracts higher and is slowly adding to more cattle to kill schedules, trades and cattlemen are trying to balance the line in the middle. They know that the road ahead of us is going to be long, and tough as the built-up supply of cattle in immense, but seeing some positive movement is comforting. Packers haven't been extremely active Thursday morning. Asking prices are still around $110-plus in the South but bids have yet to be renewed. Wednesday's cash cattle trade in the South ranged from $95 to $110, while dressed cattle traded in the North from $145 to $180 (the upper end of prices were for 100% black cattle with two-week delivery).
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $7.58 ($456.76) and select up $12.14 ($444.10) with a movement of 49 loads (29.01 loads of choice, 7.97 loads of select, 5.76 loads of trim and 5.91 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE
Feeder cattle contracts are taking Thursday by storm as contracts jump anywhere from $2.50 to $4.00 higher. May feeders are up $3.97 at $128.07, August feeders are up $4.60 at $137.35 and September feeders are up $4.12 at $138.07. Seeing the market rally is a breath of fresh air amid the current depressed season the industry has endured.
LEAN HOGS
As cattle contracts jump at the opportunity to muster some support, the lean hog contracts dip lower. June lean hogs are down $1.17 at $64.40, July lean hogs are down $0.32 at $63.47 and August lean hogs are down $0.42 at $62.75. Since the day's initial open contracts are trading better than what they were through the midmorning and with plants slowly starting to boost slaughter numbers some support should build.
The projected lean hog index for 5/6/2020 is up $3.84 at $66.22 and the actual index for 5/5/2020 is up $2.03 at $62.38. Hog prices on the National Direct Morning Hog Report aren't comparable due to confidentiality issues Wednesday, but the weighted average sits at $35.98, ranging from $35.96 to $36.00 on 4,876 head sold and five-day rolling average of $36.54. Pork cutouts total 134.58 loads with 123.52 loads of pork cuts and 11.07 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $3.62, $118.68.
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