Thursday, November 12, 2020

Thursday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Lean Hog Complex Finally Draws Some Support

 General Comments

The live cattle market is trading mostly lower as traders are eyeing the lean hog market heading into Thursday afternoon and investing there instead of the live cattle contracts. Cash cattle bids are creeping higher in Texas and Nebraska where packers have upped the offering from what they originally offered early Thursday morning. December corn is down 8 3/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $6.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 190.16 points and NASDAQ is down 23.71 points.

LIVE CATTLE

The live cattle market is trading slightly lower, but feedlots are sticking to their initial plan; not letting the day's weakness frustrate them and are holding out for higher prices! Already packer interest has shown to improve as bids have increased from $110 to $111 in Texas and have jumped $2.00 higher than what was initially offered in Nebraska from $170 to $172. Thankfully feedlots cleared out a lot of their inventory last week and are sitting in a better position in regardless to leverage in the marketplace to be able to wait for higher prices. December live cattle are down $0.35 at $112.05, February live cattle are down $0.45 at $114.82 and April live cattle are down $0.32 at $118.47.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $3.71 ($226.55) and choice down $0.20 ($208.26) with a movement of 64 loads (36.08 loads of choice, 7.88 loads of select, 9.59 loads of trim and 10.53 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE

Feeder cattle contracts are trading mildly higher into Thursday afternoon as the market is getting mixed signals from the rest of the complex. With the live cattle market weakening, the market looks for support from its fellow cattle contract but as corn prices dip $0.07 to $0.09 lower in the nearby corn contracts, the market feels safe to trade cautiously higher. November feeders are down $0.35 at $140.25, January feeders are up $0.35 at $140.55 and March feeders are up $0.40 at $139.60. The moisture that came in as snow and ice was a burden at the time for most cattle-feeding states but as wheat pastures start to show some encouraging growth, calf and feeder cattle prices across the country are seeing an uptick in tone.

LEAN HOGS

Nearby hog contracts are rallying as the market finally pays them some attention this week. December lean hogs are up $1.20 at $66.00, February lean hogs are up $0.72 at $67.12 and April lean hogs are up $0.47 at $70.57. It helps that Thursday's midday cutout value is printing over $3.00 stronger, but technically speaking, the market is still trapped in a sideways trend as resistance pressure encourages lower trade.

The projected lean hog index for 11/11/2020 is down $0.05 at $71.32 and the actual index for 11/10/2020 is up $0.12 at $71.37. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.40 with a weighted average of $60.79, ranging from $57.00 to $61.00 on 5,146 head and a five-day rolling average of $60.64. Pork cutouts total 161.67 loads with 142.44 loads of pork cuts and 19.23 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $3.43, $86.57.



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