GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is a slow and quiet marketplace heading into Friday's noon hour as traders are longing for the weekend and hope that next week's market shows more interest. No new cash cattle trade has developed and at this point it's assumed that most of the week's business is done with. July corn is up 9 1/2 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $1.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 412.02 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex is dancing on both sides of steady as the market nears the noon hour. The nearby contracts are trading mildly higher while the deferred contracts are trading mostly lower, but as the noon hour gets closer, some of the deferred contracts are showing improvement. It's very encouraging to see the nearby contracts keeping above the 40-day moving average and respecting the boundaries of the three-month trend line. The cash cattle market's early sell out didn't help the market at all this week, and it will make next week's trade difficult as packers have gained leverage in the market. No new cash cattle trade has developed and at this point its looking like the week's business is essentially done with. Throughout the week Southern live cattle have traded for mostly $172 which is $1.00 lower than last week's weighted average, and Northern dressed cattle have sold mostly for $281, which is $3.00 lower than last week's weighted average. June live cattle are up $0.80 at $162.37, August live cattle are up $0.32 at $159.75 and October live cattle are down $0.07 at $163.77.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $0.22 ($309.74) and select up $1.46 ($288.95) with a movement of 64 loads (41.83 loads of choice, 13.11 loads of select, 2.75 loads of trim and 6.57 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
As traders appraised the market early Friday morning, they noted mostly weaker trade throughout the live cattle complex, and sightly higher corn prices; all of which pointed to one conclusion, that the feeder cattle contracts were going to trade lower today. May feeders are down $0.72 at $202.92, August feeders are down $0.85 at $222.30 and September feeders are down $1.00 at $225.67. At this point, it's very unlikely that the feeder cattle contracts will turn higher ahead of closing and will instead look to next week's market for regained support and interest.
LEAN HOGS:
Even though the lean hog complex ran higher last week, the market is enduring rigorous pressure now as traders continue to gap the contracts lower. However, with that being said, we know that at some point those gaps will need to be filled and so long as demand holds as strong has it has been in the last two weeks, future prices should be able to easily re-reach those price points. June lean hogs are down $1.37 at $85.77, July lean hogs are down $1.25 at $87.00 and August lean hogs are down $1.85 at $87.70.
The projected lean hog index for May 4 is up $0.29 at $74.53, and the actual index for May 3 is up $0.46 at $74.24. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report due to confidentiality. However, we can see that 2,710 head have traded, and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $71.90. Pork cutouts total 109.91 loads with 90.94 loads of pork cuts and 18.97 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.34, $82.46.
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