GENERAL COMMENTS:
The cattle futures are having another bearish day, but the lean hog market is back to its upward trend. With corn prices trading higher, the feeder cattle contracts are on edge as rising input costs aren't what their bottom line likes to see. May corn is up 12 3/4 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $5.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 151.59 points and NASDAQ is up 81.20 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle futures are continuing to scale lower in the same lackadaisical manner as Monday's trade. April live cattle are down $0.12 at $122.60, June live cattle are down $0.75 at $121.35 and August live cattle are down $0.72 at $121.22. There may be more cattle on this week's showlists, but that isn't an alarming concern given the fact that packers need cattle to keep up with demand. If cash cattle prices can trade higher again this week, this will be the fifth consecutive week in a row of higher prices. Prices may not be as sharply higher as last week's advancement, but somewhere around $2.00 higher isn't out of the equation. The countryside is still quiet without any bids having developed. Asking prices are starting to develop in the South at $125 plus and the North has yet to share their asking prices for the week.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $1.60 ($269.81) and select up $0.74 ($266.90) with a movement of 90 loads (53.90 loads of choice, 11.75 loads of select, 4.45 loads of trim and 20.04 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
With corn futures making a swing at regaining what Monday lost and adding some to the complex, the feeder cattle contracts are having a depressed day as inputs are rising and the live cattle market isn't showing any support for the contracts to rally upon. April feeders are down $0.75 at $143.75, May feeders are down $0.92 at $148.77 and August feeders are down $1.37 at $159.20. The feeder cattle contracts are caught in the middle of absorbing what the corn market does all while trying to balance the developments in the cash cattle and live cattle markets. At this point, the market hasn't given the feeder cattle complex much hope in trading higher but higher cash cattle prices later in the week could spark some positivity.
LEAN HOGS:
Lean hog futures are back to trading higher after a doggish Monday. With the April contract set to expire Thursday, the market is looking to June and July to better gauge trader interest and market direction. Like we chatted about earlier, with supplies tightening, the choppy price variations in the pork cutout value is expected and most certainly evidenced in Thursday morning's $5.36 increase compared to Monday's $3.83 decrease. With demand still showing heightened interest and supplies continuing to tighten, these types of swings are expected to continue.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 4/12/2021 is up $0.48 at $102.37, and the actual index for 4/9/2021 is up $0.52 at $101.89. Hog prices are higher on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, up $0.39 with a weighted average of $99.96, ranging from $97.00 to $102.50 on 3,080 head and a five-day rolling average of $99.01. Pork cutouts total 236.03 loads with 212.10 loads of pork cuts and 23.93 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $5.36, 115.46.
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