GENERAL COMMENTS:
The cattle contracts are back to rallying as the surge in corn prices has seized for the time being, which is taking some immediate pressure off the cattle complex. The cash cattle market still hasn't seen much develop, as feedlots remain committed to marketing their cattle to the best of their ability. December corn is down 9 1/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $10.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 49.15 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex is trading mildly higher as the market signs a sign of relief as corn prices venture lower through Thursday's trade. A few cash cattle sales have been reported Thursday morning in Kansas, but largely the market sits quiet yet again. There were some cattle traded Wednesday afternoon in the South at mostly $180, which is $2.00 lower than last week's weighted average. The North has yet to trade any sizable volume of cattle and at this point feedlots seem committed to waiting the week out and potentially rolling over their showlists if packers don't get more aggressively. Asking prices in the South remain at $182 plus and in the North at $292 plus. August live cattle are up $0.60 at $170.35, October live cattle are up $0.72 at $173.67 and December live cattle are up $0.92 at $177.85.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.95 ($33.30) and select up $1.10 ($305.35) with a movement of 53 loads (25.76 loads of choice, 16.14 loads of select, 5.33 loads of trim and 5.45 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
With nearby corn prices trending $0.09 to $0.12 lower, the feeder cattle contracts are back to rallying as the market aims to take back some position that it lost throughout Wednesday's trade. Wednesday's market was dominated by substantially higher corn prices which completely pulled the rug out from underneath the feeder cattle complex. While corn prices are still higher than what feeders would like, at least the market isn't seeing yet another day of $0.27 to $0.30 gains in the corn sector. August feeders are up $2.05 at $229.77, September feeders are up $2.27 at $233.70 and October feeders are up $2.45 at $236.35.
LEAN HOGS:
It's odd that, on the day when news broke that implementation of California's Prop 12 will be delayed by six months to December 31, the lean hog market is trading lower. July lean hogs are down $2.77 at $91.97, August lean hogs are down $3.02 at $89.75 and October lean hogs are down $1.45 at $79.60. Some of the market's upward hesitancy could be stemming from the fact that traders have actively moved the market and are now running up against long-term resistance planes, which the market will have to handle one way or another. But currently traders aren't seeing consistent enough pork demand to find that leap a sound decision.
The projected lean hog index for June 21 is up $0.85 at $90.47, and the actual index for June 20 is up $0.87 at $89.62. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $0.60 with a weighted average price of $95.43, ranging from $75.00 to $99.00 on 2,981 head and a five-day rolling average of $94.84. Pork cutouts total 213.50 loads with 194.43 loads of pork cuts and 19.07 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.25, $95.83.
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