GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is trading mixed into Wednesday's afternoon as traders long to see support from the market's fundamentals. The cash cattle market hasn't seen any interest yet, but bids could begin to develop either Wednesday afternoon or early Thursday. March corn is up 5 1/2 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $13.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 258.89 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex is modestly trading higher as the market yearns for direction from the cash cattle sector. It's incredibly helpful for feedlots to continue to see the support in the boxed beef sector, as it adds to packers' profitably and will likely entice them to run faster chain speeds while these high prices remain and consequently push them into buying cattle in the cash market. No bids have surfaced yet in the market and given that packers know that feedlots in both the North and the South want more money than last week -- trade will likely wait to develop until Thursday. Asking prices are noted at $158-plus in the South and $256 in the North. February live cattle are down $0.15 at $157.72, April live cattle are down $0.12 at $161.70 and June live cattle are up $0.15 at $157.82.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.15 ($279.89) and select up $1.88 ($247.52) with a movement of 62 loads (28.81 loads of choice, 16.41 loads of select, 3.07 loads of trim and 14.08 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Even though the corn complex is fronting another modest rally through Wednesday's market, feeders are trending higher as they are hopeful that the cash cattle market will again see higher trade. January feeders are up $0.32 at $183.42, March feeders are up $0.42 at $185.82 and April feeders are up $0.05 at $189.17. The market will likely continue this steady sideways chop well through the first of the year until sale barns resume their normal schedule and demand for calves and feeders can help influence the market. The feeder cattle complex will be closely monitoring both cash cattle prices in the hopes that they turn higher and corn prices as any uptick in price affects feeder's cost of gains gravely.
LEAN HOGS:
After rallying throughout Tuesday's hours, the lean hog complex is taking a more cautious approach through Wednesday's market. Traders were elated to finally be given the chance to trade the exciting nature of the latest Hogs and Pigs report, but now that the USDA report is somewhat old news, traders are looking to the market's fundamentals to either encourage their upward trail. With the cash hog market still not seeing much interest and pork cutout values lower, traders are simply letting the complex trade sideways as they yearn to advance the market but need the go-ahead from the market's fundamentals before they can do much more. February lean hogs are down $0.37 at $91.10, April lean hogs are down $0.20 at $96.25 and June lean hogs are down $0.37 at $108.55.
The projected lean hog index for Dec. 24 is up $2.09 at $80.69, and the actual index for Dec. 23 is down $0.14 at $78.60. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $1.01 with a weighted average of $77.42, ranging from $72.00 to $80.00 on 4,867 head and a five-day rolling average of $78.30. Pork cutouts total 204.82 loads with 186.66 loads of pork cuts and 18.16 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.08, $90.84.
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