GENERAL COMMENTS:
It's official for market participants: The ball
may not have dropped yet, but pop the top on your finest Champaign and
say good riddance to 2019. Ready for a new year, a new market and
hopefully new prosperity, producers and market participants are all
ready for the clean new slate the new year offers. Hog prices are up on
the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, up $0.80 with a weighted
average of $50.45. March corn is down 1/2 cent per bushel and March
soybean meal is up $2.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 76.30
points and NASDAQ is up 26.61 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The 2019 live cattle market closes higher than
then 100-day moving average ($111.22) and higher than the 40-day moving
average ($120.65,) but closes slightly lower than contracts did a year
ago when the market wrapped up 2018 at $124.80. The live cattle
contracts lacked to make any real progress Tuesday as traders were out
for New Year festivities and knew that the market would be idle until
after the first of the year. February live cattle closed $0.50 lower at
$125.92, April live cattle closed $0.50 lower at $127.17 and June live
cattle closed $0.10 lower at $118.90. Cash cattle have yet to pave a
path this week, waiting for the end of the week to do their business.
Closing boxed beef prices are lower: choice down
$0.24 ($209.42) and select down $3.29 ($202.12) with a large movement
of 228 loads (117.86 loads of choice, 68.90 loads of select, 18.17 loads
of trim and 22.60 loads of ground beef). Tuesday's slaughter is
estimated at 100,000 head and Monday's slaughter was revised to 118,000
head.
THURSDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady to $1.00
higher. A long-time respected cattlemen and market participant himself
once told me, "the cattle market is nothing but an attitude." As we
pause to take a day off Wednesday, I would bet that when the market
resumes on Thursday there is a little bit different attitude floating
around the market place. For some, with good reason, beef demand is
excellent and slaughter is aggressive. And for others, nothing but the
warm internal feeling of good luck that the new year tends to spread.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Closing the year on a slightly lower note,
feeder cattle contracts tip again just a little lower. January feeder
cattle are $0.10 lower at $145.32, March feeders are down $0.27 at
$144.22 and April feeders are down $0.22 at $146.75. Able to close the
year higher than the 100-day moving average ($141.82) and higher than
the 40-day moving average ($144.48) but lower than last year's close of
$148.85, feeder cattle contracts are eager to come back Thursday and
really get to work. The CME feeder cattle index 12/30/19: $141.81 up
$2.67.
LEAN HOGS:
December treated lean hog contracts better than
some of the previous months. Although the day closed mostly lower in
nearby contracts and faintly higher in deferred, hog producers are
thankful for a higher cash market and pray to the lord above that Jan.
15 is prosperous like they've been told. February lean hogs closed $0.37
lower at $71.42, April lean hogs closed $0.70 lower at $77.92 and May
lean hogs closed $0.60 lower at $84.05. Tuesday's market closed higher
than the 100-day moving average ($64.86) and the 40-day moving average
($64.53), and even higher than last year's close of $60.97. Hang in
there hog producers, the New Year is finally here. Pork cutouts totaled
393.83 loads with 349.06 loads of pork cuts and 44.77 loads of trim.
Pork cutout values: down $1.73 at $73.02. Tuesday's slaughter is
estimated at 424,000 head. The CME lean hog index 12/27/19: $58.17, down
$0.86.
THURSDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Slightly higher. The
market is ready for higher prices and producers are anxious for the
time, but how much higher, and when, are the two biggest questions.
Prices could be slightly higher towards the end of the week as new 2020
excitement floats around, but hog prices may be pushed to the back
burner if cash cattle prices get aggressive.
 |
| #completeherdhealth |
No comments:
Post a Comment