GENERAL COMMENTS:
It's been a fairly quiet day throughout the livestock complex as the market rallied aggressively on Thursday but seems to have used up all of its momentum by Friday's arrival. The cash cattle market has a bid offered in Nebraska at $140, but otherwise the market is quiet. March corn is up 4 3/4 cents per bushel and January soybean meal is up $7.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 241.68 points and NASDAQ is down 425.35 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle futures seem to have run out of steam for the time being as the market trades mildly lower into Friday afternoon. Thankfully the contracts rallied when feedlots were needing support in pushing the cash market higher, so seeing Friday's trade trend somewhat lower isn't crushing to the complex as traders supported the market aggressively Thursday. December live cattle are down $0.25 at $137.40, February live cattle are down $0.62 at $138.95 and April live cattle are down $0.52 at $142.07. While there is a bid of $140 offered in Nebraska, it's looking like the bulk of this week's trade is done with as the cash cattle market sits fairly quiet. Asking prices left for cattle on showlists are around $143 in the South and $222-plus in the North.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $1.92 ($273.94) and select up $1.36 ($259.61) with a movement of 46 loads (24.89 loads of choice, 4.75 loads of select, 6.67 loads of trim and 9.39 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
With live cattle futures dogging lower and corn prices posting a modest rally, the feeder cattle futures have packed their bags and are trailing lower into Friday afternoon. January feeders are down $1.57 at $164.20, March feeders are down $1.25 at $167.07 and April feeders are down $1.25 at $169.65. While support remains hard to come by on the board for the cattle market, demand in the countryside for both calves and feeders remains strong as buyers are still bullish about the upcoming 2022 market.
LEAN HOGS:
The hog complex isn't nearly as aggressive come Friday as the market was throughout Thursday's trade. But the oddball factor of the market continues to be the cash hog sector and packers' back-and-forth acquisition of hogs. For instance, following Thursday's lighter trade where only 4,420 head sold (and averaged $0.08 lower than the day before) come Friday packers are back to tallying their supplies and seeking more inventory as they've already bought 6,100 head in Friday's market. Part of the whiplash nature of the current hog market is undoubtedly the ping-pong nature of the market's pork cutout values, and until holiday buying is done with the undecisive nature is likely to linger in the market. December lean hogs are down $0.07 at $74.32, February lean hogs are down $0.45 at $81.55 and April lean hogs are down $0.47 at $85.85.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 12/1/2021 is up $0.59 at $70.86, and the actual index for 11/30/2021 s up $0.23 at $70.27. Hog prices are higher on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, up a sharp $2.91 with a weighted average of $58.42, ranging from $53.50 to $64.50 on 6,100 head and a five-day rolling average of $56.16. Pork cutouts total 198.47 loads with 176.42 loads of pork cuts and 22.04 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.84, $86.25.
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