Tuesday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Cattle Regain Their Steam

GENERAL COMMENTS:

Tuesday's market has allowed both the live cattle and feeder cattle futures to charge onward while the hog complex continues to drift lower. No cash cattle trade has been reported yet and it's likely trade will be delayed until after Wednesday. March corn is down 3 3/4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is down $5.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 94.21 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Traders seem more comfortable supporting the cattle contracts Tuesday as Monday's weaker trade gave them some time to reassess the market and get a better understanding of how the week's fundamentals are going to shake out. Thankfully boxed beef prices continue to be supportive and, with packers maintaining aggressive slaughter speeds, prices have every reason to be bullish. There still hasn't been any developments in the cash cattle market and only time will be able to answer if packers are bought-up from last week's purchases or if they're still somewhat short bought. Either way it's highly unlikely any cash cattle trade will develop ahead of Wednesday. February live cattle are up $3.02 at $182.75, April live cattle are up $3.50 at $185.85 and June live cattle are up $2.40 at $182.87.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $2.24 ($295.72) and select up $0.43 ($284.20) with a movement of 55 loads (27.61 loads of choice, 12.94 loads of select, 5.46 loads of trim and 8.92 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The combination of cheaper corn prices and a higher live cattle complex is helping boost the morale of the feeder cattle contracts. Large runs of feeder cattle have been noted already this week and buyers continue to be aggressive in procuring the cattle they need as they are soberly aware that supplies will be thin through all of 2024 and likely into 2025. March feeders are up $3.52 at $246.27, April feeders are up $2.90 at $251.15 and May feeders are up $2.55 at $255.87.

LEAN HOGS:

The lean hog complex isn't seeing the same type of support the cattle contracts are as its market is trading fully lower near Tuesday's noon hour. February lean hogs are down $1.05 at $73.35, April lean hogs are down $1.02 at $81.17 and June lean hogs are down $0.92 at $95.12. It's somewhat understandable after trader's big push last week and the lack of fundamental support this week that prices would continue to drop lower. But the real question traders will be poised with answering throughout the week is where does the market's new support plane lie?

The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 2/5/2024 is up $0.30 at $73.86, and the actual index for 2/2/2024 is up $0.44 at $73.56. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report due to confidentiality. However, we can see that only 185 head have traded in the cash market and that the five-day rolling average now sits at $62.28. Pork cutouts total 193.77 loads with 167.38 loads of pork cuts and 26.38 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.96, $86.64.