GENERAL COMMENTS:
On days like this, the market's close can't seem to come soon enough. As traders continue to panic, mostly being fueled by greater economic concerns, the cattle complex endured the brunt of Tuesday's blow. December corn is down 2 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $2.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 61.56 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
It was a painful, gruesome day for the live cattle complex as cattlemen had virtually no other option but to sit back and watch the market trail lower and lower as the day traded on. Traders have been unsettled in the marketplace since the beginning of August, and since then the live cattle complex has struggled to find any real win the market as boxed beef demand has softened, fed cash cattle prices are trading lower, and the futures market can't seem to entice traders into the cattle complex for love nor money. At this point, bearishness has taken a stronghold on the market, and even though the market's fundamentals would like to argue that there is still a lot of positive support helping prop up the market, the market's technical pressure is simply too great at this point for anything else to matter. October live cattle closed $3.42 lower at $175.60, December live cattle closed $3.27 lower at $175.10 and February live cattle closed $3.40 lower at $175.92. There was a light string of cattle sold this afternoon in Nebraska at $295 dressed, which is $3.00 lower than last week's weighted average, but otherwise the market has yet to trade any. Asking prices in the South remain firm at $186 to $187 and are still not fully established in the North.
Tuesday's slaughter is estimated at 124,000 head -- 2,000 head more than a week ago and steady with a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed lower: choice down $0.47 ($315.08) and select down $0.97 ($301.04) with a movement of 137 loads (94.54 loads of choice, 20.24 loads of select, 9.54 loads of trim and 12.96 loads of ground beef).
WEDNESDAY'S CATTLE CALL: Lower. With the board's fall out, it's likely that cash cattle will trade lower this week.
FEEDER CATTLE:
It was a blood-bath type of day for the feeder cattle complex as the market plummeted $3.00 to $4.00 lower. It was a type of day where you knew that the market was going to trade lower, substantially lower, and you just prayed that the day's end came sooner rather than later as time wasn't in cattlemen's favor. So why, you ask? Why did the market drop so much? Unfortunately, it was because technical pressures, and outside concerns have grown to be too much for the market to handle. From a fundamental standpoint, the market still sits in a relatively strong position with feed prices cheap and the nation sitting with the fewest beef cows ever on record. But with the slight market changes of softer beef demand and greater economic concerns, traders have all but pulled the plug on the cattle complex and don't seem worried about giving the market's fundamentals any consideration. Much like the downturn last October, this move seems overdone but in bearish downturns like these, sound logic and reason are rarely the driving forces of the market. August feeders closed $4.17 lower at $238.20, September feeders closed $4.77 lower at $234.50 and October feeders closed $4.55 lower at $231.32. At Roswell Livestock Auction in Roswell, New Mexico compared to last week steer and heifer calves sold $5.00 to $7.00 lower. There weren't enough yearlings to accurately test the market. Slaughter cows traded steady to $3.00 lower and slaughter bulls sold steady to $2.00 lower. The CME feeder cattle index 8/19/2024: down $0.14, $243.85.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex may have followed slightly in the cattle markets wake, trending lower through Tuesday's trade, but the market did score some positive fundamental wins throughout the day as well as both cash prices and pork cutout values closed higher. It was somewhat surprising to see packers dally up to over 10,000 head in the cash market as pork cutout values have been mixed thus far this week. But even so, packers obviously needed hogs and to their benefit pork cutout values happened to be higher this afternoon as well. The belly was the biggest contributing factor to this afternoon's higher cutout close as it jumped $3.30 higher. October lean hogs closed $0.40 lower at $76.40, December lean hogs closed $0.65 lower at $68.10 and February lean hogs closed $0.65 lower at $71.57. Hog prices closed higher on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report, up $0.54 with a weighted average price of $83.26 on 10,154 head. Pork cutouts totaled 309.86 loads with 254.21 loads of pork cuts and 55.65 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.45, $97.54. Tuesday's slaughter is estimated at 482,000 head -- steady with a week ago and 8,000 head more than a year ago. The CME lean hog index 8/16/2024: down $0.14, $89.95.
WEDNESDAY'S HOG CALL: Steady. Packers bought aggressively in Tuesday's cash market, but it's likely that they still need more hogs and will have to buy somewhat aggressive at least one more day this week.
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