GENERAL COMMENTS:
It's been a sharp turn of events for the cattle complex as both the live cattle and feeder cattle markets opened higher, but now, heading into the day's noon hour, both markets are trading sharply lower. Meanwhile, the lean hog complex has found some support as it's trading mildly higher. July corn is down 1 1/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $0.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 622.87 points and NASDAQ is up 413.53 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Most believed that Friday's encouraging Cattle on Feed report would help propel the market into at least steady, if not higher, trade early this week, but traders have a different feel of the market as the live cattle contracts are trading well over $1.00 lower into today's noon hour. June live cattle are down $1.25 at $214.55, August live cattle are down $1.82 at $208.62 and October live cattle are down $1.70 at $206.40. Some of the market's concern could be stemming from the fact that this week's slaughter is expected to be dramatically lower than recent weeks as packers continue to try to find ways to build up supply around them and avoid driving the cash cattle market any higher.
Last week, Northern dressed cattle traded on Wednesday for a wide range of $354 to $370, but mostly at $360, which is $2.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Southern live cattle traded on Friday at mostly $219 to $220, which is steady to $1.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $1.36 ($360.19) and select up $0.15 ($351.47) with a movement of 49 loads (27.60 loads of choice, 5.70 loads of select, 7.86 loads of trim and 7.70 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
It's been a grim morning for the feeder cattle complex as most of the contracts are trading $2.00 to $3.00 lower into Tuesday's noon hour. At first, the market opened higher but then did a key reversal as traders quickly jerked all their support for the complex out. August feeders are down $3.20 at $297.17, September feeders are down $3.10 at $296.25 and October feeders are down $2.97 at 294.37.
LEAN HOGS:
It's been an encouraging day for the lean hog complex as the market has finally found some technical support and is pleased to see the noticeable jump in pork cutout values. June lean hogs are up $0.52 at $98.82, July lean hogs are up $0.25 at $101.80 and August lean hogs are up $0.15 at $101.42. The market is a couple of dollars away from its resistance threshold, so the complex will likely be able to sustain this rally through the day's end.
The projected lean hog index for 5/23/2025 is up $0.11 at $93.05, and the actual index for 5/22/2025 is up $0.19 at $92.94. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 650 head have traded this morning and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $95.58. Pork cutouts total 153.31 loads with 133.92 loads of pork cuts and 19.39 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.91, $104.37.
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