GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is trading mixed into Monday's noon hour as the market simply isn't seeing much trader participation besides in the feeder cattle market. It's likely that this whole week the market will trade halfheartedly as everyone steps away to enjoy Christmas. March corn is up 1 cent per bushel and March soybean meal is down $2.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 114.75 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex is trading mostly lower, although a couple of the late summer/early fall months of 2025 are trading slightly higher. More than anything, Monday's sluggish tone in the complex seems to be stemming simply from the fact that it's a holiday week, and that the market isn't going to get much participation from anyone. December live cattle are down $0.42 at $190.90, February live cattle are down $0.95 at $187.45 and April live cattle are down $0.55 at $189.57. New showlists for the week are lighter in Texas and Kansas, but slightly higher in Nebraska and Colorado.
Last week Northern dressed cattle sold in a wide range from $302 to $315, but most of the transactions happened at $305, which is $2.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Southern live cattle traded at mostly $191, which is fully steady with the previous week's weighted average.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.80 ($315.05) and select up $1.92 ($287.83) with a movement of 32 loads (16.48 loads of choice, 7.66 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 7.53 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle complex is trading mixed as the market would like to recover some of the position lost last week, but without the full support of the live cattle complex, the market is remaining cautious. January feeders are up $1.05 at $256.65, March feeders are up $0.22 at $256.05 and April feeders are up $0.07 at $256.82. Some of the feeder cattle market's support could be stemming from the fact that Friday's Cattle on Feed Report showed that placements were lighter than a year ago.
LEAN HOGS:
It's another grim, lethargically day for the lean hog complex as the market isn't seeing much develop in terms of fundamental support or trader interest. Later Monday afternoon, the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report will be released which could slightly affect the market's behavior on Tuesday, but with it being the week of Christmas, not much is expected to surface in the marketplace this week. February lean hogs are down $2.07 at $83.85, April lean hogs are down $1.57 at $88.97 and June lean hogs are down $1.22 at $100.87.
The projected lean hog index for 12/20/2024 is up $0.40 at $84.75, and the actual index for 12/19/2024 is up $0.14 at $84.35. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 282 head have traded and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $78.84. Pork cutouts total 166.06 loads with 148.03 loads of pork cuts and 18.03 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $3.56, $93.72.
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