GENERAL COMMENTS:
Sluggish tones continue to drive both the cattle and hog markets lower as sufficient support to justify higher trade is lacking. Still no cash cattle trade has developed and it's likely trade will be delayed until Thursday or Friday of this week. July corn is down 3 3/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $4.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 24.14 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Traders are once again sending the live cattle contracts lower as midday boxed beef prices are lower and no riveting support has developed in the cash sector. It is odd to see asking prices posted already in the North as usually the Southern Plains are first to post their asking prices and then later in the week the North's asking prices surface. Northern feedlots are asking $305 to $306, but no bids have surfaced yet. June live cattle are down $0.17 at $182.00, August live cattle are down $0.35 at $178.07 and October live cattle are down $0.50 at $180.30. It's unlikely any trade will develop Wednesday, but packer interest should improve by Thursday.
Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $1.81 ($315.07) and select down $1.89 ($302.58) with a movement of 78 loads (47.20 loads of choice, 13.45 loads of select, 6.41 loads of trim and 10.74 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
With the live cattle complex lending no support and nothing having developed yet in the cash cattle market -- the feeder cattle contracts are again trading lower as support is seeming hard to come by. August feeder cattle are down $1.45 at $254.62, September feeders are down $1.42 at $256.17 and October feeders are down $1.37 at $257.17. Thankfully the weakness that's being seen in the futures complex hasn't affected the countryside feeder cattle sales as the CME Feeder Cattle Index closed at $250.89 Tuesday afternoon. More than anything, traders need a shot of strong fundamental support to shake the dreariness pervading the cattle sector.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex is continuing to trade lower as the market is again looking for a new support plane or technical interest to come to its rescue. After breaking through the market's current support Tuesday, the complex has continued to trend lower even though midday pork cutout values are up noticeably. Unfortunately given the weakened nature of the market's current pork demand, traders are going to need to see more than a single day's worth of higher pork cutout values before they'll confidently trade the futures complex higher. June lean hogs are down $0.32 at $92.37, July lean hogs are down $1.62 at $92.30 and August lean hogs are down $1.75 at $91.80.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 6/4/2024 is up $0.13 at $92.06 and the actual index for 6/3/2024 is up $0.20 at $91.93. Hog prices on the Daily Direct Moring Hog Report average $87.20, ranging from $85.00 to $88.00 on 1,854 head and a five-day rolling average of $87.32. Pork cutouts total 160.72 loads with 129.40 loads of pork cuts and 31.32 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.59, $103.35.
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