GENERAL COMMENTS:
It was another boring day for the livestock complex as traders again let contracts drift lower as they patiently waited for fundamental support to develop. Cash cattle interest should improve on Thursday. Hog prices closed higher on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report, up $0.46 with a weighted average price of $81.24 on 3,569 head. May corn is down 1/2 cent per bushel and May soybean meal is up $8.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 401.37 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Without the cash cattle market to add some zest to the live cattle complex, live cattle contracts had little option but to trade lower. Traders are content in their steady/somewhat lower trading range as they wait for the cash cattle market to get underway. It's expected that cattle will trade $1 higher this week as packers need more cattle, but traders aren't willing to bet on that idea until it comes to fruition.
There were a few cattle traded in Kansas, but not enough to say any sort of trend has been established for the week. Asking prices are firm in the South at $188-plus but continue to remain elusive in the North.
April live cattle closed $0.25 lower at $187.80, June live cattle closed $0.22 lower at $184.77 and August live cattle closed $0.32 lower at $183.70.
Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 116,000 head -- 2,000 head less than a week ago and 11,000 head less than a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed mixed: Choice up $0.22 ($313.44) and select down $0.47 ($302.71) with a movement of 136 loads (87.94 loads of choice, 25.72 loads of select, 10.21 loads of trim and 11.82 loads of ground beef).
THURSDAY'S CATTLE CALL: $1 to $2 higher. Packer interest will likely improve by Thursday, and given how confident feedlots are in waiting the week out and believing that packers need more cattle, cattle may indeed trade higher this week.
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle complex continued in the same pattern it's been trading in lately. Whatever the live cattle contracts do, it's going to do. With the live cattle contracts rounding out the day slightly lower, the feeder cattle market once again looked past the strong sales in the countryside and ended the day slightly. April feeders closed $0.15 lower at $254.92, May feeders closed $0.12 lower at $258.80 and August feeders closed $0.55 lower at $269.27.
At Ozarks Regional Stockyards in West Plains, Missouri, compared to last week, feeder steers and heifers traded steady while steer and heifer calves sold steady to $5 higher. It was noted in the sale report that six weight steer calves broke $3 last week at the auction and several groups this week sold above $3. Five weight heifers also traded above $3 but the stick-out sale of the day was a group of 702-pound steers that sold for $2.87. Feeder cattle supply over 600 pounds was 25%. The CME feeder cattle index March 19: Not available at this time.
LEAN HOGS:
Lean hog contracts may have closed lower, but when you take into consideration the combination of a weaker closer in the futures complex and the noticeably lower close in pork cutouts, it was a bit of a gut-wrenching day for hog enthusiasts. April lean hogs closed $0.52 lower at $85.30, June lean hogs closed $0.62 lower at $100.62 and July lean hogs closed $0.62 lower at $103.32.
The market's weakness largely stemmed from the week's weak pork demand. The carcass price was mostly pulled lower from the $7.56 drop in the rib, but the $2.84 drop in the belly, the $1.60 drop in the ham and the $1.28 drop in the butt didn't help matters. Hopefully, tomorrow morning the market will see a better export report than last week and the market will stumble into some support. Pork cutouts totaled 288.56 loads with 250.02 loads of pork cuts and 38.54 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: Down $1.19, $92.18. Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 490,000 head -- 4,000 head more than a week ago and 7,000 head more than a year ago. The CME lean hog index March 18: Up $0.28, $82.82.
THURSDAY'S HOG CALL: Steady. With pork cutout values drifting lower this week, cash prices could chop steady or begin to trade lower.
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