GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is trading mostly higher into Thursday's noon hour as retailers are refilling their coolers after the holiday rush which has consequently pushed both pork cutout values and boxed beef prices higher. Bids of $190 live and $305 dressed have surfaced in Nebraska. March corn is up 3 1/4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $11.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 29.02 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Christmas thankfully put a little cheer back into the live cattle complex as the market is confidently trading back above its 40-day moving average in the spot February contract, and it's likely that fed cash cattle will trade for higher money again this week. December live cattle are up $1.55 at $192.35, February live cattle are up $2.17 at $189.55 and April live cattle are up $2.30 at $191.85. If the market can sustain this momentum through the day's end and close above the 40-day moving average, it signs trader optimism and could help the market turn its direction back higher again. Some action has started to develop in the cash cattle market as bids have surfaced in Nebraska $190 and $305 dressed. Asking prices are firm at $192 to $193 live in the South and $310 dressed in the North. Packer interest could improve throughout the day but it's likely that trade could be delayed at this point until Friday.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $3.84 ($319.82) and select up $0.98 ($287.73) with a movement of 145 loads (66.62 loads of choice, 30.61 loads of select, 20.89 loads of trim and 26.56 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Talk about a wild way to come back from the Christmas holiday break! The feeder cattle complex isn't being shy about its momentum as it's pushing a bolstering $3.00 to $4.00 rally and is again close to resistance levels at $260 in the spot January contract. I'm skeptical of whether the market will be able to surpass the market's resistance given that it's not an ideal time to take on such market opposition. With the New Year's holiday just around the corner, the market doesn't fully shake the holiday fog until after the New Year. At which point everyone is fully back to work and ready to do business. From a fundamental sense, the market is prime to take on such a challenge, but again, I don't know if there's enough weight behind the market's momentum currently. January feeders are up $3.55 at $259.37, March feeders are up $4.15 at $259.15 and April feeders are up $3.80 at $259.65.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex is trading mostly higher as the market is thrilled to see a little better support in stronger pork cutout values. February lean hogs are down $0.02 at $84.35, April lean hogs are up $0.02 at $89.20 and June lean hogs are up $0.25 at $101.50. Thankfully the rib's $3.78 jump along with both the ham's $2.87 jump and the loin's $2.77 gain are off-setting the belly's $2.65 decline.
The projected lean hog index is delayed from the source. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of submission issues. Pork cutouts total 410.96 loads with 374.26 loads of pork cuts and 36.70 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.31, $95.93.
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