Tuesday Midday Livestock Market Summary - The Lean Hog is Pulling in Trader's Interest

 General Comments

As Tuesday progresses aspirations throughout the lean hog market continue to grow as traders see the potential for a strong export market and see continued follow through as packers keep moving the cash market steadily higher. Meanwhile the cattle sector sits with the opposite equation; not able to rally trader interest has left the complex scaling lower and the cash cattle market remains unchanged. December corn is down 1/4 cent per bushel and December soybean meal is up $2.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 26.71 points and NASDAQ is up 60.64 points.

LIVE CATTLE

The live cattle sector isn't as volatile to the day's lack of support as much as the feeder cattle market is. October live cattle are down $0.35 at $106.35, December live cattle are down $0.52 at $110.07 and February live cattle are down $0.97 at $114.27. The week is gearing up to be another week of standoff trade for the cash cattle market as bids are illusive, and feeders are nonchalant about developing their asking prices. Again, feeders know that they can easily roll their showlists to next week if they don't receive the prices they need. Working against feeder's ability to move the market higher is the weaker futures market along with the vulnerability that comes with the Cattle on Feed Report.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.92 ($215.30) and select up $0.80 ($206.62) with a movement of 100 loads (77.54 loads of choice, 12.24 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 10.01 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE

Feeder cattle contracts are feeling even more pressure than what Monday initially sprung on the complex as most of the market scales $1.40 to $1.67 lower. October feeders are down $1.65 at $140.60, November feeders are down $1.62 at $141.10 and January feeders are down $1.40 at $139.47. The market is suffering from a lack of trader interest as traders see opportunity in the lean hog market as opposed to the cattle market.

LEAN HOGS

As Tuesday moves into the afternoon, the lean hog market is seeing more and more support develop throughout the nearby contracts. October lean hogs are up $3.00 at $68.60, December lean hogs are up $2.85 at $64.45 and February lean hogs are up $2.37 at $69.60. Thursday's export report is going to be highly sought after as the market anticipates export demand flourishing at some point in the near future but is still unable to pinpoint when that time will be.

The projected lean hog index for 9/21/2020 is up $0.88 at $72.17 and the actual index for 9/18/2020 is up $1.71 at $71.29. Hog prices are higher on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, up $2.16 with a weighted average of $62.15, ranging from $58.00 to $65.00 on 6,358 head and a five-day rolling average of $60.42. Pork cutouts total 226.96 loads with 210.92 loads of pork cuts and 16.04 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $4.17, $94.26.