Monday Midday Livestock Market Update - Hesitancy Dominates the Complex

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The livestock complex is being extremely cautious as it nears Monday's noon hour. Traders seem to be longing for fundamental support before they make any moves in the futures contracts. July corn is down 3 1/2 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is steady. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 98.64 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

The live cattle complex is struggling as the market questions what cash cattle prices will do this week. The market's fundamentals continue to point to higher prices, but whether or not feedlots will demand them remains unknown at this point. It's likely that the futures complex will continue to chop in a sideways cautious fashion until a direction in the cash market is seen later this week. June live cattle are down $0.40 at $165.07, August live cattle are down $0.85 at $162.92 and October live cattle are down $0.40 at $167.22.

Last week, Northern dressed cattle traded $3.00 to $5.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average, and Southern live cattle sold $2.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average. Last week's negotiated cash cattle trade totaled 83,647 head. Of that, 57% (47,747 head) were committed to the nearby delivery, while the remaining 43% (35,900 head) were committed to the deferred delivery.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $1.38 ($310.06) and select up $0.52 ($288.86) with a movement of 31 loads (18.80 loads of choice, 3.61 loads of select, 4.15 loads of trim and 4.88 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle complex is trading mostly lower into Monday's noon hour as feeders want to see reassurance from the live cattle market. But with cash cattle prices trading lower last week, the live cattle complex may be slow to offer up the support that feeder's desire. Corn prices are still not posing any threat as they continue to trade lower, but still, feeders are being cautious at Monday's start. May feeders are down $0.37 at $210.60, August feeders are up $01.2 at $230.85 and September feeders are down $0.02 at $233.77.

LEAN HOGS:

After exploding late last week, the lean hog complex seems to have mixed emotions about whether or not its market should continue to trade higher. But given what the market's fundamentals are signaling, I'd say it's pretty clear that the fundamental support is there. June lean hogs are down $2.22 at $89.47, July lean hogs are down $2.17 at $91.50 and August lean hogs are down $1.90 at $92.77. The market has all the room in the world to continue to trade higher before it runs into technical pressure. Traders are likely being cautious as they want to see steady, consistent support before they'll again advance the market higher.

The projected lean hog index of April 28 is up $0.61 at $72.10 and the actual index for April 27 is up $0.20 at $71.49. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $2.40 with a weighted average of $72.48, ranging from $64.00 to $76.00 on 7,400 head and a five-day rolling average of $69.35. Pork cutouts total 135.05 loads with 118.83 loads of pork cuts and 16.23 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.45, $81.77.