GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is trading lower into Wednesday's noon hour as traders are hesitant to push any of the markets higher without seeing more fundamental support arise. A single bid of $218 is currently being offered in Nebraska, but no cattle have traded at this point. May corn is up 8 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $0.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 279.59 points and NASDAQ is down 261.29 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
It will be interesting to see what takes shape this week in the live cattle complex as earlier in the week trader support was plentiful, but upon Wednesday's arrival traders have shown some caution and packers have already begun to offer bids in the North. On the bullish side of the spectrum, feedlot managers are likely going to try to hold out and pressure packers into paying steady/higher prices later this week. On the opposite side of the spectrum, however, packers are desperate to get ahead of the cash cattle market and they're throwing every trick in the book at the marketplace to dramatically reduce throughput, including offering bids early in the week in hopes that some feedlot managers will get antsy and let some cattle go early. But as always, it's too early in the week to say what's going to exactly happen which is why we need to track the market all the more closely. June live cattle are down $0.40 at $209.85, August live cattle are down $0.57 at $205.05 and October live cattle are down $0.75 at $202.52. A single bid of $218 is currently being offered in the North -- but at this point no cattle have traded. Asking prices are firm in the South at $216-plus, but are still not established in the North.
Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $2.49 ($345.77) and select down $0.67 ($323.15) with a movement of 65 loads (38.81 loads of choice, 5.97 loads of select, 10.87 loads of trim and 9.22 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Just like the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle contracts are also lower as traders are skeptical of getting too far ahead of themselves, and overbuying/over supporting the market much more. May feeders are down $1.37 at $292.65, August feeders are down $1.70 at $295.20 and September feeders are down $1.50 at $294.10. It's unlikely the day's lower tone in the futures complex will gravely affect sales in the countryside as buyers know that the availability of feeders/calves is thin.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex continues to trade lower as the market is under pressure technically. Without better support from its fundamentals, it's unlikely the contracts will be able to gain any momentum. June lean hogs are down $1.60 at $97.85, July lean hogs are down $1.42 at $98.17 and August lean hogs are down $1.45 at $96.67. It's interesting to see packers are already fairly aggressive in the day's cash market, but pork cutout values continue to drift lower.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 4/29/2025 is up $0.47 at $89.25, and the actual index is up $0.60 at $88.78. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $0.53 with a weighted average price of $93.29, ranging from $85.00 to $95.00 on 3,741 head and a five-day rolling average of $92.15. Pork cutouts total 170.94 loads with 147.37 loads of pork cuts and 23.58 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.23, $96.82.
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