GENERAL COMMENTS:
Live cattle and lean hog contracts are struggling through Monday's trade while feeder cattle contracts decide to trade higher. Hogs are hoping demand will perk up in their market while the live cattle market still tries to wrap its head around all that developed last week. March corn is up 2 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $6.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 200.29 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Monday's trade might seem a little weak given that cash cattle prices rallied anywhere from $4 to $10 higher last week. It's not that traders/cattlemen have already forgotten what the market accomplished last week but rather that they're wondering what's to come. February live cattle are down $0.65 at $183.97, April live cattle are down $0.92 at $185.80 and June live cattle are down $0.70 at $183.27. The market likely sees continued support once traders see how boxed beef demand is going to lean early this week. New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Kansas, but lower in Texas and Nebraska/Colorado.
Last week Southern live cattle traded for $182, $4 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Northern dressed cattle sold for $280 to $290, but mostly at $289, $10 higher than the previous week's weighted average.
Boxed beef prices are higher: Choice up $0.89 ($294.93) and select up $1.58 ($286.66) with a movement of 49 loads (15.67 loads of choice, 6.10 loads of select, 22.60 loads of trim and 4.73 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle complex is trading higher at the beginning of the week as the market continues to thrive on the cattle market's strong fundamental footing. Seeing the fat cattle market trade $4 to $10 higher isn't something that happens very often. Seeing prices jump that much in one week is probably something that only happens a handful of times in our lifetime if we are lucky. March feeders are up $1.17 at $248.32, April feeders are up $0.75 at $252.52 and May feeders are up $0.67 at $256.35. The feeder cattle complex will likely continue to trade higher this week as buyers are soberly aware of the fact that there simply aren't enough cattle to go around this year.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog market continues to trade lower as the market lacks enough support to justify trading the market any higher. Pork cutout values continue to bounce all over the place, and the cash hog market is so thinly traded right now that it's hardly worth looking at. Hog producers would love to see better demand either in stronger exports or more domestic consumer demand. February lean hogs are up $0.05 at $73.72, April lean hogs are down $0.25 at $80.90 and June lean hogs are down $0.17 at $94.82.
The projected lean hog index for Feb. 9 is up $0.10 at $73.70, and the actual hog index for Feb. 8 is down $0.40 at $73.60. Hog prices are unavailable in the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report due to confidentiality. We can see, however, that only 68 head have traded so far in the day's cash market and the five-day rolling average now sits at $65.45. Pork cutouts total 132.10 loads with 109.24 loads of pork cuts and 22.86 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: Up $3.47, $89.44.
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