GENERAL COMMENTS:
The lean hog and feeder cattle futures have grown leery of pushing their contracts too much higher; but thankfully, the live cattle complex is still met with adequate trade support. If the market's support carries into the latter part of the week, cash cattle stand a strong chance at trading steady to $1.00 higher. May corn is up 7 1/2 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is up $1.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 469.82 points and NASDAQ is up 274.45 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle futures are keeping with their stronger tone from Monday and, although their rally isn't as strong, the contracts are still climbing higher. April live cattle are up $0.22 at $140.55, June live cattle are up $0.32 at $136.05 and August live cattle are up $0.35 at $137.02. The strength that's stemming from trader interest in the futures market is helping feedlots grow confident in asking for higher prices. Feedlots know packers aren't going to willingly cough up any extra change. But with patience and unity, the market may be able to see steady to slightly higher trade. Asking prices in the South have been noted at $142, but the North has yet to share what they'd like to see. Midday boxed beef prices are mixed but if prices can close higher by the afternoon report, feedlots will feel as though that's another strong signal helping aid them in their quest for higher cash prices this week.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $1.49 ($257.00) and select down $0.03 ($249.91) with a movement of 77 loads (30.11 loads of choice, 11.49 loads of select, 4.52 loads of trim and 31.32 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Feeder cattle futures traded notably stronger Monday, but upon seeing the wheat contracts rallying, the market has eased its pace and is trading slightly lower Tuesday. Thankfully, it's looking like the live cattle complex may be able to lend the feeder contracts some support as they're continuing to trade higher. And, if cash cattle trade higher, then feeders would stand even a stronger chance at rallying again. But in the meantime, the knee-jerk reactions between the grain markets and the feeder cattle complex are continuing. March feeders are up $0.30 at $156.25, April feeders are down $0.52 at $161.87 and May feeders are down $0.30 at $167.15.
LEAN HOGS:
You'd think the exciting news of three pork plants being able to increase processing speeds as part of a trial program would rally the lean hog futures, but in the market's current situation an overabundance of hog supplies isn't the burden. Nevertheless, later down the road hog supplies will increase, at which point fast chain speeds will be applauded and fully welcomed to hopefully cut down on the market's chance of seeing a backlog. Midday pork cutout values are up, but traders would like to see follow-through support in Tuesday's afternoon prices before they grow overly confident. In the meantime, the lean hog contracts are continuing to chop sideways as the market is unsure of its nearby trajectory. April lean hogs are down $0.47 at $101.72, June lean hogs are up $0.02 at $119.37 and July lean hogs are down $0.05 at $118.32.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 3/11/2022 is up $0.09 at $100.85 and the actual index for 3/10/2022 is up $0.85 at $100.76. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report due to confidentiality issues. However, we can see that 2,886 head have traded and that the market's five-day moving average sits at $100.91. Pork cutouts total 212.37 loads with 181.59 loads of pork cuts and 30.78 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $5.71, $108.90.
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