GENERAL COMMENTS:
The lean hog complex is taking the exciting nature of last week's bullish Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report, while the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts are sitting back and trading timidly as they received a lukewarm Cattle on Feed report. March corn is up 6 1/4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is down $4.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 119.71 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex has toyed with the idea of trading higher, but with the mixed findings on last week's Cattle on Feed report, the doggish nature of placements in the report seems to have the cattle market's full focus. February live cattle are down $0.07 at $157.67, April live cattle are down $0.02 at $161.80 and June live cattle are down $0.17 at $157.67. It will be interesting to see how boxed beef prices fare now that the Christmas holiday is over and retailers look to restock their coolers. If Tuesday's midday prices are any sort of a representation of what's to come throughout the week, then the tone in the live cattle arena should improve.
The bulk of last week's light business took place on Thursday and Friday, with Northern dressed sales ranging from $246 to $250, mostly $249, $1 higher than the prior week's weighted averages. Southern live deals were at $155 to $156, fully steady to $1 higher than the previous week's weighted averages.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $7.15 ($279.10) and select up $3.82 ($249.29) with a movement of 35 loads (21.48 loads of choice, 5.92 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 7.15 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle complex is getting hit with a double whammy as it reacts to the lower placements on Friday's Cattle on Feed report (but placements were still higher than what analysts assumed) and the $0.03 to $0.06 rally happening in Tuesday morning's corn market. The COF report doesn't necessary care at this time that placements were lighter than a year ago; all traders are seeming to care about is the fact that analysts projected placements to be lighter than what they actually were. If the live cattle market can keep cash cattle prices trading at least steady, then the market may stand a chance at trading higher later in the week when the news from the COF report grows old. January feeders are down $0.95 at $183.05, March feeders are down $1.20 ta $185.55 and April feeders are down $1.07 at $189.17.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex is trading higher as the market runs wildly after having time to absorb last Friday's bullish Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. With less supply expected to be available to the market in the year ahead, producers are hoping that they'll see higher prices as smaller supplies should bode well for stronger prices so long as demand persists. February lean hogs are up $2.92 at $90.77, April lean hogs are up $1.35 at $96.72 and June lean hogs are up $0.32 at $109.07.
The projected lean hog index for Dec. 23 is down $0.14 at $78.60 and the actual index for Dec. 22 is down $0.93 at $78.74. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report due to packer submission issues. Pork cutouts total 137.50 loads with 116.22 loads of pork cuts and 21.28 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $6.68, $98.74.
No comments:
Post a Comment