Friday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Feeders Take What They Can as Corn Falls Lower

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The feeder cattle contracts are enjoying corn market's weakness that came with Friday's arrival, but otherwise it's a lower trending, depressing day throughout the livestock complex. The announcement that African swine fever has been confirmed in Rome sent the hog contracts tumbling, and the live cattle complex can't seem to muster any support from the board or out in the countryside. July corn is down 12 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $1.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 184.25 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

It's an uneventful day again for the live cattle sector as the market's contracts drift lower and the cash market sits without any bids renewed. It's been interesting to watch boxed beef prices as of late, as consumers are seeming to pump the brakes on high beef prices. It's important to wait for the day's afternoon report before we put too much emphasis on where prices sit, but again, choice cuts are seeing a regression as consumers opt to choose the cheaper select cuts over the higher quality cuts of choice, as they shop strategically to get the most out of their hard-earned dollars. June live cattle are down $0.35 at $133.42, August live cattle are down $0.32 at $135.70 and October live cattle are down $0.22 at $143.17. Throughout the week dressed cattle have sold for $232 and live cattle have sold for $140, both of which are steady with last week's business.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.48 ($254.70) and select up $0.62 ($246.43) with a movement of 60 loads (34.58 loads of choice, 8.84 loads of select, 7.00 loads of trim and 9.52 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle contracts are back to singing a higher tune as the corn market trades $0.10 to $0.13 lower in its nearby contracts, and $0.12 to $0.16 lower in its deferred markets. Traders are finding it easiest to put most of their support and trust in the market's deferred contracts as they know by late 2022 and early 2023, numbers will likely favor sellers and the market will have a clearer understanding of what the 2022 grain situation is. May feeders are down $0.32 at $160.00, August feeders are up $0.92 at $175.30 and September feeders are up $0.95 at $178.45.

LEAN HOGS:

Friday's buzz has been centered around the breaking announcement that African swine fever has been confirmed in Rome. Pigs333 shared that, "African swine fever has been confirmed in a dead wild boar found in the Insugherata natural park, in 'Grande Raccordo Anulare' in the Italian capital. This is the first case in central Italy. This new outbreak is about 500 km away from the Liguria-Piedmont area, already affected since the confirmation of the first case this Jan. 7."

Friday's lean hog market hasn't taken kindly to the news and has traded lower throughout most of the day. June lean hogs are down $2.45 at $104.60, July lean hogs are down $2.10 at $107.32 and August lean hogs are down $1.82 at $107.32. Pork cutout values are lower in the morning's report, but if the market is going to indeed trade higher, it will need to see followed through support from consumers.

The projected lean hog index for May 5 is down $0.05 at $100.91 and the actual index for May 4 is down $0.08 at $100.96. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $1.13 with a weighted average of $100.45, ranging from $100.00 to $110.00 on 3,914 head and a five-day rolling average of $101.46. Pork cutouts total 169.12 loads with 153.06 loads of pork cuts and 16.06 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.08, $106.19.