GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is trading mixed into Wednesday's afternoon as the market sees support in the cattle complex, but the lean hog market isn't seeing the momentum that carried its market higher on Tuesday. This afternoon traders will be closely watching to see how pork cutout prices fair and to see if any cash cattle trade develops. March corn is down 4 3/4 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $3.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 86.13 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex is a split market heading into Wednesday afternoon as the nearby contracts are trading mildly higher while the deferred contracts are trading slightly lower. There has been news that a mad cow disease case is currently being investigated in Brazil, which could affect the U.S. beef market as the nation was expecting to receive more Brazilian beef imports in 2023. April live cattle are trading steady at $165.10, June live cattle are trading $0.22 higher at $161.10 and August live cattle are trading $0.22 higher at $159.90. A few bids are being offered in Nebraska at $162 live and $259 dressed. There was a little bit of trade that developed late Tuesday afternoon in Nebraska, where cattle sold live for $160 to $161 (which is steady to $1.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average) and in Iowa cattle traded for $164, which is $3.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Beside the small volume, which accumulated late Tuesday afternoon, the market has yet to see any more cattle trade. Southern asking prices remain firm at $164-plus and are still not established in the North.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $1.42 ($288.62) and select up $2.05 ($272.89) with a movement of 56 loads (40.15 loads of choice, 6.19 loads of select, 2.87 loads of trim and 6.50 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle contracts are rallying modestly into Wednesday's noon hour as the market welcomes cheaper corn prices and applauds the modest rally taking place throughout the live cattle contracts. March feeders are up $0.82 at $187.70, April feeders are up $0.75 at $191.55 and May feeders are up $0.75 at $195.62. So long as the market's fundamentals don't change (strong cattle vs. weak corn) the feeder cattle contracts should face no issue closing higher by Wednesday's end.
LEAN HOGS:
After an aggressive rally throughout Tuesday's trade, the lean hog complex is now trending lower as the market hopes that consumer support carries into the day's closing pork cutout report. Tuesday's market would have been a perfect day in the eyes of the market but, by the day's end, the futures complex had closed higher, cash prices were higher, but cutout values didn't receive the same support. Fast forward to Wednesday's trade, traders seem more cautious in their approach to the market as they long to see what Wednesday afternoon's cutout values will accomplish. April lean hogs are down $2.47 at $86.62, June lean hogs are down $1.80 at $103.47 and July lean hogs are down $1.57 at $105.57.
The projected lean hog index is delayed from the source. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report due to confidentiality issues. We can however see that 3,465 have traded and that the five-day rolling average sits at $77.44. Pork cutouts total 135.67 loads with 124.56 loads of pork cuts and 11.11 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $3.18, $86.19.
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