It was a mixed day for the livestock complex as the cattle contracts hit the pause button on their rally, but the lean hog complex finally found some technical footing in the marketplace. No cash cattle trade developed throughout the day. May corn is down 3/4 cent per bushel and May soybean meal is down $0.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 188.04 points.
LIVE CATTLE:The live cattle complex had a mostly uneventful day as traders drug their feet throughout the day seeming to wait to see what's going to develop in this week's cash cattle market. Not helping traders keep their upward momentum was the fact that boxed beef prices did dip slightly lower -- but throughout the week prices have traded mostly higher. April live cattle closed $1.10 lower at $194.62, June live cattle closed $0.97 lower at $191.27 and August live cattle closed $0.80 lower at $190.27. A single bid of $196 was offered throughout the afternoon in the Southern plains, but no cattle traded as asking prices in the South are firm at $200 to $201. Still no asking prices have been established for the North, but feedlot managers are expected to price their cattle higher this week.
Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 122,000 head -- 5,000 head more than a week ago and steady with a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed lower: choice down $1.42 ($312.90) and select down $0.89 ($303.24) with a movement of 158 loads (110.58 loads of choice, 19.76 loads of select, 6.14 loads of trim and 21.50 loads of ground beef).
THURSDAY'S CATTLE CALL: Steady to somewhat higher. Given that feedlot managers are eager to again trade cattle higher, I think steady prices may be attainable this week.
FEEDER CATTLE:Try as it might, the feeder cattle complex wasn't able to maintain its higher trend in its spot March contract by Wednesday's close. But today's slight pullback from traders doesn't seem to be anything other than some technical cautiousness as traders are hopeful that the fed cash cattle market will lend support. Thankfully, buyer demand in the countryside remains strong and feeder cattle prices are again trending higher in sale barns. March feeders closed $0.15 higher at $274.37, April feeders closed $0.27 lower at $273.52 and May feeders closed $0.50 lower at $271.82. At Winter Livestock Auction in La Junta, Colorado compared to last week feeder steers sold $5.00 to $8.00 higher, and feeder heifers traded mostly $2.00 to $3.00 higher. Boner cows sold $1.00 lower and lean hogs closed $1.00 higher. Slaughter bulls traded $3.00 higher. Feeder cattle supply over 600 pounds was 52%. The CME feeder cattle index: down $0.71, $278.73.
LEAN HOGS:The lean hog complex finally regained its footing and was able to make Wednesday's close a fruitful endeavor as most of the nearby contracts closed well over $1.00 higher. April lean hogs closed $1.72 higher at $88.30, June lean hogs closed $1.77 higher at $100.87 and July lean hogs closed $1.82 higher at $102.37. Continuing to help matters was the fact that afternoon pork cutout values did indeed close higher -- and although the carcass price was highly encouraged by the belly's $10.30 jump, a higher close is a higher close. Hog prices closed higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $1.02 with a weighted average price of $89.86 on 4,962 head. Pork cutouts totaled 244.65 loads with 216.09 loads of pork cuts and 28.56 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.01, $96.66. Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 490,000 head -- 1,000 head more than a week ago and steady with a year ago. The CME lean hog index 2/24/2025: down $0.21, $89.47.
THURSDAY'S HOG CALL: Steady to somewhat lower. At this point, packers have likely fulfilled the bulk of their needs for the week and prices could trend lower.
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