GENERAL COMMENTS:
It's been a peculiar morning for livestock futures as early in the day support flourished throughout the entire marketplace, but as the noon hour approached the market's support was quick to fade in live cattle futures. Meanwhile the lean hog contracts are back to trading higher after many thought the market was set on now scaling lower. May corn is down 11 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $4.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 59.75 points and NASDAQ is down 165.30 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
It's been a mixed morning for live cattle futures as the contracts have tried to trade higher, but support is thin and is willing to quickly ease away from pressure. April live cattle are down $0.15 at $119.27, June live cattle are down $0.22 at $117.52 and August live cattle are down $0.15 at $116.65. The live cattle market is a tough environment right now as cash cattle sellers can't get the interest or support they need and the board is willing to cave to any pressure the day may find. There's been some cash cattle trade in the North for $180, $2.00 lower than last week's average, and in the South for $114, which is fully steady with last week's business. It's disappointing to see cash cattle already trading as packers are running vigorous processing speeds and will obviously need to restock their supplies. Making trade wait until the later part of the week always favors a stronger cash cattle market.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $1.37 ($233.31) and select up $0.23 ($226.40) with a movement of 71 loads (37.77 loads of choice, 9.47 loads of select, 16.35 loads of ground beef and 7.60 loads of trim).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Corn prices are lower and there's some optimism circling through the feeder cattle and live cattle futures which is helping boost the cattle market's morale ever so slightly. March feeders are down $0.22 at $136.30, April feeders are up $0.05 at $140.52 and May feeders are up $0.32 at $143.90. With the immense pressure feeder cattle contracts have been under, corn prices pushing daily cost of gain prices notably higher, and underlying weakness in the cash cattle market, feeder cattle futures have some room to trade higher without coming up against resistance levels. Demand throughout the countryside is favoring cattle and lightweight feeders that can make suitable grass cattle. Diving into lots, having no other option but to go straight onto a feed ration, is a risky purchase right now for buyers.
LEAN HOGS:
Pork demand is extraordinary and the hog market is outperforming what most thought even possible! It's a hard market to pinpoint as your gut wants to tell you the hog run is over and long overdue for a correction, but then the hog contracts keep fighting for more and Tuesday's afternoon pork cutout value closed higher again. With Easter being a little over a month away, watching processing speeds throughout the hog market will be a big indication of when packers plan to cool down chain speeds and let the cash hog market tumble lower and regain some of their margin. But in the meantime, the high-stakes poker game continues as the hog market bounces higher and lower, fighting technical pressures and praying fundamental support continues to stoke the market's fire. April lean hogs are up $2.47 at $87.85, June lean hogs are up $1.15 at $94.62 and July lean hogs are up $1.05 at $95.25.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 3/2/2021 is up $0.64 at $83.27, and the actual index for 3/1/2021 is up $0.73 at $82.63. Hog prices are $1.00 higher on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, with a weighted average of $79.42, ranging from $75.00 to $83.00 on 3,350 head and a five-day rolling average of $77.49. Pork cutouts total 171.42 loads with 144.77 loads of pork cuts and 26.65 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.65, $94.22.
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