Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Wednesday Closing Livestock Market Summary - Sharp Losses Develop Midweek

GENERAL COMMENTS:
Cash cattle bids remain undeveloped at midweek following the general pressure in futures trade. This is causing both sides to reassess overall market direction, and likely will limit active packer interest until late week. Bids may become more evident late Wednesday evening or sometime during the day Thursday, but it is unlikely feeders will give them much attention unless a major shift lower develops in futures. Asking prices are starting around $114 to $115 live and $180 and higher dressed. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.19 lower compared with the prior day settlement ($58.00-$64.90) weighted average $63.32. Corn futures are lower in light activity. December futures were 2 3/4 cents lower. Dow Jones Index is 75 points higher with Nasdaq up 31 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Moderate pressure moved through live cattle futures as traders seemed less intent on aggressively pushing prices lower as was seen in other livestock markets ($0.65 to $1.07 lower). Firm losses were in all live cattle contracts. December contracts led the market lower with a $1.07 per cwt loss, although there continues to be some additional uncertainty about follow-through buying in the coming days, prices remain in the top end of the trading range, and still hang onto a firm market trend. It is going to take more than one down day to change this trend, leaving traders closely watching for additional direction indicators through the rest of the week. Beef cut-outs: lower, $1.68 lower (select, $192.30) and down $0.47 (choice, $204.42) with good demand and heavy offerings 158 loads (76 loads of choice cuts, 33 loads of select cuts, 27 load of trimmings, 23 loads of coarse grinds).
THURSDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL:
Steady to $1 higher. Packer interest remains extremely sluggish going into the last half of the week. Saying that, bids are expected to become more evident through the day Thursday, although sales may not develop until later.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Firm pressure developed in feeder cattle futures with traders focusing on general pressure in all livestock markets ($0.80 to $1.20 lower). October futures led the complex lower with a $1.20 per cwt loss, moving back to $157.87 per cwt as traders tried to back away from early month support. The potential that September highs of $159.17 per cwt in October futures may hold given the recent market pressure could allow markets to establish a sideways market trend through the month of October. CME cash feeder index for 10/2 is $157.84 up $0.02.
LEAN HOGS:
Wide-ranging losses developed in most contracts Wednesday. The overall lack of support quickly eroded previous market gains ($2.00 lower to $1.05 higher). October futures pushed higher Wednesday, while all other contracts posted triple-digit losses. This general weakness across the complex was most evident by $2 per cwt losses seen in December contracts. This pulled prices back to $57.15 per cwt. Although markets continue to hold well above support levels, the shift lower could quickly limit additional support late in the week. Pork cuts posted narrow losses with primals mixed in a moderate range. Pork cutout values fell $0.11 per cwt, moving to $80.37 per cwt. CME cash lean index for 10/1 $67.93 up $0.67. DTN Projected lean index for 10/2 $68.84 up $0.91.
THURSDAY'S CASH HOG CALL:
Mixed. Cash hog prices are expected from $1 per cwt lower to 50 cents higher. Most bids will be steady to weak early Thursday. Slaughter numbers are expected at 471,000 head Thursday morning. Saturday runs are expected at 187,000 head.

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