GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is trading mostly higher as both the lean hog and feeder cattle markets trade fully higher, but the live cattle complex is trading mixed. Traders will again be watching for any signals from the cash cattle market as they trade at historically high prices. December corn is down 6 3/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is up $6.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 51.63 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex is trading mixed as traders want to continue to fuel the ambition to keep trading higher, but before they can confidently do that, they want a little reassurance from the market's cash complex. Last week's cash cattle trade was historic in the sense that feedlot managers made a big, bold statement telling packers that they sit in a sound enough position to roll their showlists over if packers weren't going to pay up. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics of this week's market plays out as packers want to get a foothold on the cash market, but feedlots aren't making it necessarily easy for them. August live cattle are up $0.32 at $180.50, October live cattle are down $0.32 at $182.30 and December live cattle are up $0.30 at $186.07. New showlists appear to be mixed, somewhat higher in Nebraska/Colorado, somewhat lower in Kansas, and lower in Texas.
Last week's business started to develop on Wednesday with small amounts of cattle selling through Thursday and Friday. In the Southern Plains cattle sold for $175 to $180, which is $3.00 lower to $2.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Northern dressed cattle sold for $287 to $295, but mostly at $291, which is $1.00 higher than last week's weighted average.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $1.13 ($307.07) and select down $0.35 ($276.26) with a movement of 53 loads (16.80 loads of choice, 10.47 loads of select, 20.51 loads of trim and 4.79 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
It's been a no-brainer for the feeder cattle complex to trade higher through Monday's market as corn prices are trending $0.06 to $0.07 lower in the market's nearby contracts and as the live cattle market is seeing fairly steady support as well. What's most telling about the market right now is its fundamental strength. The sheer fact that largely feedlots resisted selling cattle to packers last week is a big, bold statement. And as feedlots remain more leverage in the cash market, cow-calf producers are eager to price their calves/feeders as they know that feedlots will be restocking their pens eventually. August feeders are up $1.15 at $247.80, September feeders are up $1.02 at $250.25 and October feeders are up $0.92 at $251.35.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex is trending slightly higher into Monday's afternoon as traders want to believe that the market's demand is going to remain strong. It is however problematic that the cash hog market has only seen a mere 317 head traded. Packer demand could improve this afternoon just it's equally as likely that packers wait until midweek before they really invest into this week's cash hog market. August lean hogs are up $0.35 at $96.57, October lean hogs are up $0.37 at $83.97 and December lean hogs are up $0.42 at $76.77.
The projected lean hog index for July 14 is up $0.57 at $101.60, and the actual index for July 13 is up $0.74 at $101.03. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report due to confidentiality. However, we can see that only 317 head have traded and that the five-day rolling average now sits at $100.39. Pork cutouts total 124.05 loads with 107.67 loads of pork cuts and 16.37 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.45, $116.00.
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