GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is trending mixed into Friday's noon hour as the cattle contracts are trading lower due to the pressures of higher corn prices, while the lean hog market has finally found some technical support and is trading mildly higher. No new cash cattle trade has developed at this point and it's looking like the week's business is mostly done with. May corn is up 10 1/2 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $3.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 230.36 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
After rallying to new contract highs earlier this week, the live cattle complex is now trading lower even though cash cattle prices have ranged from trading anywhere between $5.00 and $11.00 higher than last week's weighted averages. At times traders find support and direction from a combination of both technical and fundamental cues, but at other times they seem bias to only supporting the signs of one side of the market. And Friday seems to be one of those day's when traders seem blind to the market's fundamental strength and are only trading the market based on technical pressures. April live cattle are down $0.27 at $175.22, June live cattle are down $0.37 at $164.12 and August live cattle are down $0.37 at $162.87. No more cash cattle trade has developed at this point, and it's looking like the bulk of the week's business is done with.
Throughout the week, Northern dressed deals have ranged from $283 to $290, but mostly at $290, which is $11.00 higher than last week's weighted average. Southern live cattle have traded for $170 to $180, but mostly at $175, which is $5.00 higher than last week's weighted average.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $1.51 ($301.93) and select up $1.03 ($284.41) with a movement of 53 loads (38.68 loads of choice, 3.67 loads of select, 5.64 loads of trim and 5.17 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Higher corn prices are pressuring the feeder cattle complex to trade lower as the nearby corn contracts are rallying as much as $0.08 to $0.11 higher. One would think that, with the strong price advancements seen in the countryside for both fat cattle and feeder cattle, the feeder cattle complex would be able to lean on its strong fundamental basis, but through both of Thursday and now Friday's markets, traders seem more interested in bowing to the pressures of the technical complex. April feeders are down $0.22 at $202.45, May feeders are down $0.17 at $207.62 and August feeders are down $1.15 at $223.82.
LEAN HOGS:
After closing substantially lower Thursday afternoon, the lean hog complex has seemed to find some technical support in Friday's market as all the contracts are trading mildly higher. June lean hogs are up $0.90 at $86.57, July lean hogs are up $0.77 at $89.30 and August lean hogs are up $0.65 at $90.40. Pork cutout values are up substantially (up $2.02) with the ham posting another steep gain of $4.91 and the loin posting a sharp gain of $3.81. The risk in this equation is that the ham has been extremely volatile and so afternoon pork cutout values could still close lower.
The projected lean hog index for April 13 is down $0.32 at $71.63, and the actual index for April 12 is down $0.30 at $71.95. Pork cutouts total 168.78 loads with 157.56 loads of pork cuts and 11.23 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.02, $79.58. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.70 with a weighted average of $68.63, ranging from $63.00 to $72.00 on 3,590 head and a five-day rolling average of $69.81.
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