Tuesday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Support Begins to Become Spare in Contracts

General Comments

The cattle contracts are still winding lower into Tuesday's afternoon and as the day gets closer to the noon hour, the support in the lean hog contracts is starting to disappear as well. Largely the market is seeing a lack of trader support because of the holiday. Cash cattle have yet to trade but asking prices in the South are noted at $110 or better. March corn is up 2 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is down $0.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 125.63 points and NASDAQ is up 23.32 points.

LIVE CATTLE

The live cattle market is suffering from the same lack of interest that the rest of the livestock contracts are. December live cattle are down $0.20 at $110.40, February live cattle are down $0.90 at $113.75 and April live cattle are down $0.75 at $118.02. Even though the futures market is scaling lower in preparation for the Christmas holiday, feedlots are still gunning for higher prices and are liking how the boxed beef market is shaping up to support a stronger trade as well. The South has priced their cattle at $110 or better, while the North has yet to share their asking prices, though a couple of feedlots in eastern Nebraska have asked $172. Business should transpire some time later Tuesday afternoon, or mostly likely sometime Wednesday. The longer feedlots make packers wait, the more likely they are to get their $1.00 to $2.00 higher.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $0.88 ($211.80) and select up $3.17 ($200.43) with a movement of 88 loads (40.60 loads of choice, 16.22 loads of select, 6.93 loads of trim and 23.75 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE

The simple lack of support can really summarize what's transpiring in the cattle contracts Tuesday morning and especially in the feeder cattle market. With Tuesday and Wednesday rounding out the year for most feeder cattle auctions, the feeder cattle contracts are trading modestly lower knowing that the market isn't going to be supported over the holiday lull. January feeders are down $0.65 at $139.97, March feeders are down $1.02 at $142.10 and April feeders are down $0.97 at $143.77. The feeder cattle futures market has done an excellent job paving the way for higher prices, the market just needs to see follow-through support from countryside buyers and feedlots to move the live market stronger, which will most likely not happen until after the dawning of 2021.

LEAN HOGS

Unfortunately, the support that was fighting tooth and nail to cling to the lean hog contracts has met its match with the lack of interested traders Tuesday morning and now trades mostly lower. February lean hogs are down $0.05 at $65.87, June lean hogs are down $0.07 at $80.95 and July lean hogs are down $0.10 at $81.57. The lean hog market can't step out of the marketplace without first seeing Wednesday's Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report. Once again, the aftermath of COVID-19 and its disruption to the marketplace leave a big question market on the number of heavy weighing hogs lining the countryside. The report's biggest questions are wondering how many hogs are weighing 120 to 179 pounds? And how many hogs are weighing 180 pounds or more?

The projected lean hog index for 12/21/2020 is down $0.51 at $62.04 and the actual index for 12/18/2020 is down $1.17 at $62.55. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.57 with a weighted averaged of $50.23, ranging from $45.00 to $52.00 on 5,716 head and a five-day rolling average of $51.55. Pork cutouts total 191.34 loads with 164.08 loads of pork cuts and 27.25 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $4.47, $67.87.