GENERAL COMMENTS:
It was another lousy day for the livestock contracts as traders mostly let the contracts drift lower in all three of the livestock markets. Friday will be a busy day for the livestock industry as the market will anxiously look for the week's export data, then hope to see some cash cattle sales develop and lastly be on the look for the afternoon's Cattle on Feed report. Hog prices closed lower on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $0.30 with a weighted average price of $87.21 on 4,451 head. July corn is down 10 1/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $7.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 299.90 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex continues to trade in its sideways trading range as the market waits for the cash cattle market to trade. It's expected that cattle will trade no less than steady this week, and there's a strong possibility that prices could be even higher this week. At this point, no cattle have traded and throughout the day there was only a bid of $197 offered in Nebraska -- but feedlots elected to that sit on the table and grow cold. Asking prices are noted in the South at $189 but are still not yet established in the North. June live cattle closed $0.40 higher at $187.07, August live cattle closed $0.45 higher at $182.55 and October live cattle closed $0.05 lower at $183.82.
Thursday's slaughter is estimated at 121,000 head -- 1,000 head less than a week ago and 5,000 head less than a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed higher: choice up $2.17 ($322.87) and select up $1.14 ($304.40) with a movement of 98 loads (55.16 loads of choice, 23.37 loads of select, 9.28 loads of trim and 10.07 loads of ground beef).
FRIDAY'S CATTLE CALL: Higher. Feedlot managers know that packers still need cattle and given that their showlists are current and that boxed beef prices are continuing to trade higher -- it's likely that feedlot managers will play hardball tomorrow and fight aggressively to get cattle traded for more money.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Even though demand continues to support feeder cattle sales in the countryside, the feeder cattle futures market doesn't seem concerned with anything other than the fed cash cattle market at this point. One would logically think that on a day when the corn market closed $0.10 to $0.11 lower the feeder cattle contracts would have closed higher, but that simply wasn't the case as traders continue to sit idle, waiting to see what this week's cash market does before they do too much in the futures complex. August feeders closed $0.12 lower at $259.82, September feeders closed $0.05 higher at $261.17 and October feeders closed $0.10 lower at $261.87. At Winter Livestock Auction in Dodge City, Kansas compared to last week steers over 850 pounds sold steady to sharply higher, and heifers over 700 pounds sold steady to $5.00 higher. Slaughter cows sold $3.00 to $6.00 higher and slaughter bulls sold $3.00 to $5.00 lower. Feeder cattle supply over 600 pounds was 93%. The CME feeder cattle index 6/19/2024: down $1.60, $255.47.
LEAN HOGS:
The poor lean hog complex can't seem to win at anything but losing right now. On a day when the afternoon carcass price finally closed higher, of course, it would be the hog market's luck that traders sent the contracts trading sharply lower, and again they're now pressuring the market's current support plane. July lean hogs closed $2.62 lower at $91.15, August lean hogs closed $2.45 lower at $89.12 and October lean hogs closed $2.00 lower at $76.40. The afternoon's carcass price was able to close mildly higher as the belly jumped $10.04, and the rib climbed $5.68 higher. Hopefully, Friday's export report lends the market some additional support. Pork cutouts totaled 220.14 loads with 187.08 loads of pork cuts and 33.05 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.18, $97.85. Thursday's slaughter is estimated at 480,000 head -- 10,000 head more than a week ago and 20,000 head more than a year ago. The CME lean hog index 6/18/2024: down $0.13, $90.72.
FRIDAY'S HOG CALL: Lower. Packers have likely already secured their cash needs for the week.
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