The livestock complex is trading mixed into Monday's noon hour as the cattle contracts have regained some technical footing, but the lean hog contracts are facing some uncertainty as they reach long-term resistance thresholds. New showlists appear to be higher in all major feeding areas this week. March corn is up 4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is down $0.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 41.25 points.
LIVE CATTLE:The live cattle complex is currently continuing to build upon the support that was established last week after the market endured significant down-pressure. It's somewhat relieving to see the spot April contract maintaining its position above the market's 40-day moving average. Still, with only a thin hairline margin standing between the two price points, traders will continue to monitor that closely. It's still too early in the week for any cash cattle business to have developed, but with packers having to buy cattle cheaper last week, they'll likely fight tooth and nail to keep the cash market's trend headed in the same direction this week. February live cattle are up $0.77 at $201.55, April live cattle are up $0.82 at $197.57 and June live cattle are up $0.52 at $192.62.
Last week Southern live cattle traded for mostly $206, which is $2.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average, and Northern dressed cattle traded for mostly $328 which is $1.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average. Last week's negotiated cash cattle trade totaled 72,948 head. Of that, 79% (57,574 head) were committed to the nearby delivery, while the remaining 21% (15,374 head) were committed to the deferred delivery.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $2.21 ($324.08) and select up $0.78 ($313.68) with a movement of 42 loads (26.11 loads of choice, 4.38 loads of select, 6.85 loads of trim and 5.06 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:The added support of the live cattle market's higher trend has thankfully helped the feeder cattle contracts regain some gusto as currently, all the contracts are trading above $1.00 higher into Monday's noon hour. March feeders are up $1.90 at $266.70, April feeders are up $1.62 at $266.45 and May feeders are up $1.52 at $265.12. Yes, the corn complex is fronting a modest rally this morning as well, but for the time being the live cattle market's support seems to be outweighing any concern about the corn market's higher front.
LEAN HOGS:For most of the morning, the lean hog complex was trading higher but as the morning's noon hour approaches, some technical pressure is setting into the market. One would think that the substantially stronger pork cutout value this morning would help ease some technical pressure, but traders are uncertain about what direction to send the market at this junction. I think it's worth noting that this morning the carcass price isn't being inflated by simply one cut's gain, but rather instead by the vast majority of the cuts trading higher as the ham is up $6.27, the belly is up $5.38 and the rib is up $4.74 to name the big-hitting price jumps this morning. April lean hogs are down $0.07 at $92.10, June lean hogs are up $0.07 at $104.35 and July lean hogs are down $0.22 at $104.95.
The projected lean hog index for 2/7/2025 is up $0.36 at $85.75, and the actual index for 2/6/2025 is up $0.34 at $85.39. Pork cutouts total 138.60 loads with 124.09 loads of pork cuts and 14.52 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $3.86, $100.86. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 200 head have traded and that the five-day rolling average now sits at $85.64.
No comments:
Post a Comment