GENERAL COMMENTS:
The excitement leading up to the Fourth of July weekend has almost captured everyone's attention and you feel the lack of interest in the markets as they wane throughout Thursday's trade, not doing much of anything. December corn is up 1/4 cent per bushel and December soybean meal is up $4.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 69.69 points and NASDAQ is down 24.58 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle futures weathered the storm of Wednesday's USDA acreage report mostly unscathed. But without cash cattle trade finding much support and slower processing speeds booked for the days ahead -- the market pitter-patters on both sides of steady. August live cattle are down $0.42 at $122.27, October live cattle are down $0.15 at $128.00 and December live cattle are up $0.20 at $132.30. With the market trading in a thin manner as traders head out early for a long weekend, sideways and cautious trade is expected to continue and will likely be the tone through Friday. Be on the lookout Thursday afternoon for the market's actual slaughter data as we hope to find another report where processing exceeded 660,000 head and carcass weights remained steady, if not lower. The cash cattle market continues to sit idle without a single bid being noted.
Beef net sales of 12,100 metric tons (mt) reported for 2021 were down 28% from the previous week at 17% from the prior four-week average. Increases were primarily for Japan (3,300 mt), South Korea (2,800 mt) and China (2,100 mt).
Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $2.98 ($288.31) and select down $0.88 ($268.39) with a movement of 86 loads (57.53 loads of choice, 16.58 loads of select, 4.96 loads of trim and 7.10 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
After the unveiling of Wednesday's bullish corn acreage report, corn futures have settled down and are now trading mixed with nearby contracts mildly higher while deferred contracts drift slightly lower. The feeder cattle contracts are taking advantage of the corn market's lackadaisical trade. But with traders seeming to have one foot out the door already for the holiday weekend, the marketplace is very slow to do anything. August feeders are up $0.47 at $155.10, September feeders are up $0.25 at $157.67 and October feeders are up $0.22 at $159.75. This type of weak-hearted trade is likely to continue throughout the remainder of the week and even into the beginning of next week as a lot of sale barns won't have their regular sales next week either.
LEAN HOGS:
Lean hog futures haven't been greeted with the excitement generated with earlier in the week and are actually faced with noteworthy resistance in the nearby contracts thus far into Thursday's trade. The market didn't find any gust of support from Thursday's export report and, with the holiday throwing a kink into processing speeds, the market's only clear option is to trade lower. July lean hogs are down $2.27 at $105.20, August lean hogs are down $3.00 at $100.25 and October lean hogs are down $2.97 at $84.00.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 6/29/2021 is at $112.18, and the actual index for 6/30/2021 came in at $111.77. Hog prices are incomparable on the National Direct Morning Hog Report as Wednesday prices weren't reported due to confidentiality. Nevertheless, Thursday's market has seen 3,800 head trade with a weighted average of $109.39, ranging from $107.00 to $115.00 and the five-day rolling average is at $111.56. Pork cutouts total 157.29 loads with 135.19 loads of pork cuts and 22.10 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.10, $114.94.
Pork net sales of 28,600 mt reported for 2021 were unchanged from the previous week, but up 12% from the prior 4-week average. The three largest buyers were Mexico (17,700 mt), Japan (2,800 mt) and Canada (1,800 mt).
No comments:
Post a Comment