GENERAL COMMENTS:
Livestock futures have found modest support Tuesday morning and are hoping to keep their prices elevated throughout the afternoon close. Both live cattle and lean hog contracts will have to weigh out the fundamental side of the market's support or resistance, while the feeder cattle market keenly watches corn futures to determine its own behavior. December corn is down 5 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $4.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 180.50 points and NASDAQ is up 104.82 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle futures sit looking at the market's potential to rally technically, seeing the eagerness that feedlots possess to push cash cattle higher again this week. But traders aren't enthused with the boxed beef market's stutter. The challenging aspect about the boxed beef market is knowing that, with how absurdly overpriced beef prices have been over the last year and half, at some point beef prices are going to have to correct and unfortunately that will put negative pressure on the cash market, even though it doesn't depict proper demand as the market has been blown out of proportion. December live cattle are up $0.12 at $131.90, February live cattle are down $0.15 at $136.17 and April live cattle are up $0.02 at $140.00. The cash cattle market has yet to see any interest develop and bids have yet to surface. Asking prices in the South are noted at $134 plus and the North hasn't set their prices yet.
The special Fed Cattle Exchange Auction on Tuesday listed a total of 2,261 head, of which 607 actually sold, none were scratched from the auction and 1,654 head were listed as unsold, as they did not meet the reserve prices, which ranged from $132 to $133. Opening prices ranged from $130 to $131, high bids ranged from $131 to $132.50. The state-by-state breakdown looks like this: Texas 1,840 total head, with 186 head sold at $132.50, 1,654 head went unsold; Kansas 421 total head, with all 421 head sold at $132 to $132.25.
Boxed beef pries are lower: choice down $0.15 ($283.05) and select down $1.11 ($266.17) with a movement of 91 loads (49.24 loads of choice, 20.77 loads of select, 4.60 loads of trim and 16.24 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
With corn futures 6 cents lower in the nearby contracts, the feeder cattle complex is leaning into Tuesday's trade with a little more hope. January feeders are up $0.22 at $158.70, March feeders are up $0.45 at $160.32 and April feeders are up $0.57 at $162.90. There's been plenty of buying seen lately on calves as buyers have more options with them. But with how volatile the corn market has been, buyers have been skeptical about plunging into the feeder cattle market as most of them have to go straight onto feed. Thankfully the higher price of corn also comes at a time when the cash cattle market is rallying, which makes the spike in input costs somewhat bearable as fats are finally trading above $130 and are likely to keep rallying into 2022.
LEAN HOGS:
Traders just can't seem to help themselves when it comes to the lean hog market lately. The market is torn between being mindful of today's fundamentals, which aren't favorable to the market's attempt to rally. But traders seem to not care as they look at 2022 and see a stronger, bullish marketplace. December lean hogs are up $1.00 at $76.80, February lean hogs are up $1.47 at $82.67, and April lean hogs are up $1.12 at $86.82. If the market finds a fruitful export report on Thursday, that could help the momentum continue. Although traders will have to recognize that with the shortened weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year all approaching, supplies of market-ready hogs are bound to back up.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 11/15/2021 is up $0.16 at $76.33, and the actual index for 11/12/2021 is down $0.51 at $76.15. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.44 with a weighted average of $57.37, ranging from $53.00 to $57.75 on 8,193 head and a five-day rolling average of $57.72. Pork cutouts total 206.48 loads with 187.18 loads of pork cuts and 19.30 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.47, $92.46.
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