Wednesday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Cattle Drift Lower as Traders Look for Continued Support

GENERAL COMMENTS:

Wednesday's market seems to be easily summarized as a day of passing time and looking for additional support. Regardless of what market you look to in the livestock complex, traders are taking a cautious approach to the day's trade and continue to scout for reassurance fundamentally. December corn is up 4 1/2 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $6.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 58.37 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

The live cattle contracts are drifting slightly lower into Wednesday's afternoon as traders patiently wait for the market's cash cattle trade to develop. No bids or asking prices are available and, at this point, it's looking like the bulk of the week's trade could be delayed until Thursday or potentially even later. Even though the market is fronting slightly lower prices right now, the market's overall tone is still extremely strong and bullish. It's likely that cash prices hold steady if not trade $1.00 to $2.00 higher simply given the fact that packers have been extremely disciplined in only buying the bare minimum in the cash market over the past three weeks. But given that processing speeds are increasing slightly, one could argue that they'll need more cattle. October live cattle are down $1.05 at $183.10, December live cattle are down $0.65 at $187.80 and February live cattle are down $0.42 at $192.20.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.16 ($307.87) and select up $1.24 ($285.02) with a movement of 86 loads (57.48 loads of choice, 13.19 loads of select, 10.54 loads of trim and 4.63 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle complex seems to be talking a more cautious approach to Wednesday's market as traders are letting the contracts drift lower. When the cash cattle market begins to trade, and if trade is steady to somewhat higher, then it's likely that traders could again set the contracts at steady prices or even potentially put them on an upward trend but until then traders are being patient and continuing to look for reassurance that higher prices are indeed the direction the market needs to go. September feeders are down $1.22 at $254.10, October feeders are down $1.70 at $259.55 and November feeders are down $0.90 at $262.00.

LEAN HOGS:

The lean hog complex is trading mixed into Wednesday's noon hour as the nearby contracts pull back from their aggressive push while the deferred contracts continue to trade mildly higher. The market needs to see steady, consistent followed through support from consumers if traders are going to keep advancing the contracts. It's unlikely that the cash hog market sees much change as packers are going to try to keep cash prices as minimal as possible. October lean hogs are down $0.77 at $84.50, December lean hogs are down $0.32 at $76.57 and February lean hogs are up $0.05 at $80.30.

The projected lean hog index for Sept. 12 is up $0.35 at $86.48, and the actual index for Sept. 11 is down $0.04 at $86.13. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.29 with a weighted average price of $79.04, ranging from $73.50 to $80.00 on 4,882 head and a five-day rolling average of $79.18. Pork cutouts total 142.87 loads with 130.46 loads of pork cuts and 12.40 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.79, $100.41.