GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock contracts spend a lot of their time battling both technical and fundamental pressures, but there's one thing that both the hog and cattle contracts can agree upon right now -- they are beyond thankful for the robust consumer demand that the market is thriving upon. Cash hog prices closed sharply higher, up $5.39 with a weighted average of $113.10 on 9,990 head. July corn is down 3 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $4.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 3.36 points and NASDAQ is down 48.56 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle contracts strutted a confident stride around the noon hour, but the complex was unable to keep its rally through the day's close. June live cattle closed $0.42 lower at $115.85, August live cattle closed $0.65 lower at $117.30 and October live cattle closed $0.67 lower at $122.10. With boxed beef prices printing as strong as they are, one would think that the cash cattle market would be able to hold at least steady this week, as feedlots aren't in a desperate need to liquidate and move cattle. Thankfully, the market's strong slaughter pace is going to help keep the market current and high corn prices will incentive feedlots to sell cattle at lower weights. There's yet to be any sizeable cash cattle trade, and it's looking like the week's business will at least wait until after the online auction on Wednesday, if not later. Tuesday's slaughter is estimated at 121,000 head -- steady with a week ago and incomparable to a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed sharply higher: choice up $5.79 ($290.99) and select up $5.18 ($279.53) with a movement of 105 loads (62.53 loads of choice, 12.60 loads of select, 15.70 loads of trim and 14.07 loads of ground beef).
WEDNESDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady. If packers weren't sitting on a plethora of committed cattle, this week's cash cattle market would undoubtedly have no problem rallying higher as boxed beef prices are soaring and slaughter speeds are turned up high. But packers do have a lot of cattle committed for the weeks to come and their desire to give more for cash cattle is minimal.
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle contracts attempted to rally higher amid the stout advancements in the spot May corn contract, which closed $0.15 higher at $6.95, but as the day played out, trader's optimism subsided. The back and forth nature of the corn and feeder cattle contracts playing cat and mouse is long from over. The feeder cattle contracts felt confident enough to close partly higher because the May corn contract was the only contract to close higher while the other contract months all closed lower. Still, the utter fear of rising cost of gains is going to limit some buyer's aggression in the feeder cattle market. May feeders closed $1.40 lower at $135.87, August feeders closed $0.22 lower at $150.07 and September feeders closed $0.07 lower at $152.20. At Joplin Regional Stockyards in Carthage, Missouri, compared to last week, feeder steers under 600 pounds sold steady to $3.00 lower, while those steers weighing over 600 pounds traded steady to $3.00 higher. Feeder heifers traded steady to $5.00 lower with the biggest decline seen on heifers that weighted more. The CME Feeder Cattle Index for April 26: down $0.28, $135.22.
LEAN HOGS:
Cash hog prices jumped a whopping $5.39 higher on just shy of 10,000 head, pork cutouts closed higher, and Tuesday's slaughter speeds held well above 480,000 head. Tight supplies and lavish demand are pouring profits towards producers and, as long as demand continues to shine through the market, this choppy sideways trend is expected to last for as long as consumers are willing to keep buying. June lean hogs closed $0.17 lower at $106.67, July lean hogs closed $0.35 lower at $105.32 and August lean hogs closed $0.22 lower at $102.07. Pork cutouts totaled 373.20 loads with 336.42 loads of pork cuts and 36.78 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.38, $110.68. Tuesday's slaughter is estimated at 486,000 head, 1,000 head more than a week ago and incomparable to a year ago. Monday's hog slaughter was revised to 483,000 head, down 6,000 head from what was originally stated. The CME Lean Hog Index for April 23: up $0.66, $107.17.
WEDNESDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Steady to somewhat lower. Seeing that Tuesday posted a cash rally over $5.00, it wouldn't be that surprising to see Wednesday's trade be steady to somewhat lower.
No comments:
Post a Comment