Monday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Weaker Tones Summarize the Complex

GENERAL COMMENTS:

Technical pressures are driving the livestock contracts lower into Monday's noon hour. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that the market will shake this tone ahead of the day's end as traders are distancing themselves from the livestock complex until they see better demand and fundamental support. December corn is down 1/4 cent per bushel and December soybean meal is down $3.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 12.86 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

After rallying to a new higher for the current trading range just last week, the live cattle complex is back to trading lower as traders look for continued fundamental support before they'll comfortably advance the market anymore. August live cattle are down $0.70 at $187.87, October live cattle are down $1.10 at $187.42 and December live cattle are down $1.15 at $188.15. It will be interesting to see how this week's cash market shakes out as last week feedlots were able to advance the cash market $2.00 against the seasonal norm.

Last week Northern dressed cattle traded for mostly $312 which is $2.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average, and Southern live cattle traded for mostly $190 which is also $2.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Last week's negotiated cash cattle trade totaled 73,164 head. Of that 79% (57,696 head) were committed to the nearby delivery, while the remaining 21% (15,468 head) were committed to the deferred delivery.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.02 ($313.75) and select up $2.61 ($300.07) with a movement of 80 loads (58.49 loads of choice, 8.86 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 12.23 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

For awhile the feeder cattle complex was trading higher but as Monday's noon hour quickly approaches, the complex has lost some of it's might as the live cattle market isn't lending any support. August feeders are down $2.40 at $257.37, September feeders are down $2.75 at $256.85 and October feeder cattle are down $2.17 at $256.12. The day's descent has sent the spot August contract trading back below both its 100-day and 40-day moving averages.

LEAN HOGS:

The lean hog complex is also trading lower even though the market's fundamentals are lending ample support. On a normal day you'd expect the lean hog contracts to be trading higher when both the cash market and pork cutout values are higher, but the announcement that two new cases of African swine fever found in pig herds in Germany seems to be weighing heavily on the complex at this point. August lean hogs are down $2.15 at $91.32, October lean hogs are down $3.30 at $74.90 and December lean hogs are down $2.32 at $68.00.

The projected lean hog index is delayed from the source. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $2.03 with a weighted average price of $84.16, ranging from $78.00 to $85.00 on 703 head and a five-day rolling average of $83.71. Pork cutouts total 134.84 loads with 117.85 loads of pork cuts and 16.99 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.44, $107.61.