GENERAL COMMENTS:
Both the live cattle and feeder cattle futures championed another day with higher closes. Meanwhile the lean hog complex closed mixed and packers had a rough day as they lag behind in posting pork cutout values and cash prices. Hog prices are unavailable due to packer submission problems. March corn is up 8 3/4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $17.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 273.38 points and NASDAQ is up 106.12 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Live cattle futures closed fully higher, supported by Monday's inventory report and feeling anxious to push the cash market higher upon seeing throughput return to full capacity. February live cattle closed $0.72 higher at $140.30, April live cattle closed $0.85 higher at $145.37 and June live cattle closed $0.90 higher at $139.97. The market championed contract highs in some cases and came rather close to mustering a new high in other contracts. There's no denying that -- upon seeing the numbers of fewer cattle and achieving normal chain speeds once again -- the market is ready to rock 'n roll and pick up steam like it possessed in the last months of 2021. A small handful of cattle traded in parts of the North with dressed deals ranging from $218 to $220. But there wasn't enough business to really even say the market was tested. Southern feedlots are asking $140-plus and the North has yet to disclose their asking prices. Tuesday's slaughter is estimated at 121,000 head -- 3,000 head more than last week and last year.
Boxed beef prices closed lower: choice down $4.96 (285.44) and select down $3.05 ($280.22) with a movement of 127 loads (83.90 loads of choice, 16.94 loads of select, 9.85 loads of trim and 15.86 loads of ground beef).
WEDNESDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady to $2.00 higher. With chain speeds back to full bore, the cash market should see excellent interest from packers. We know packers do have some cattle committed with time, but they should still need to dabble in the cash market in order to fill all of their needs.
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle market rallied through Tuesday's close as the complex swelled upon analyzing the bullish data from Monday's Cattle Inventory report. The corn complex moved higher again, but the feeder cattle market didn't weaken upon the corn market's modest rally as the complex is hoping Monday's report sparked a new rally for the cattle complex. March feeders closed $0.67 higher at $163.70, April feeders closed $0.70 higher at $169.15 and May feeders closed $0.62 higher at $173.52. At Russell Livestock Auction in Russell, Iowa, compared to last week on a run of 2,943 head, feeder steers weighing 400 to 700 pounds traded $5.00 to $10.00 higher, and those over 700 pounds traded firm to $3.00 higher. Feeder heifers weighing 350 to 800 pounds sold $6.00 to $8.00 stronger. The CME Feeder Cattle Index 1/31/2022: up $0.33, $158.77.
LEAN HOGS:
With both pork cutouts and cash hog prices unavailable due to packer submission problems, the market has a hard time analyzing the fundamental side of the complex. February lean hogs closed $0.32 lower at $88.15, April lean hogs closed $1.97 higher at $97.67 and June lean hogs closed $1.90 higher at $107.42. It is encouraging to see throughput improving as the market desperately needed to get back to processing hogs at full capacity. Pork cutouts are unavailable due to packer submission problems. Tuesday's slaughter is estimated at 480,000 head -- 9,000 head more than a week ago and 7,000 head less than a year ago. The CME Lean Hog Index 1/28/2022: up $1.54, $82.15.
WEDNESDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Steady. Even though there hasn't been tremendous interest thus far in the week for cash hogs, to some degree it is likely packers will need to support the market as throughput is back to full capacity.
No comments:
Post a Comment