Monday Midday Livestock Market Update - Traders Push Contracts Higher and Hope Fundamental Support Remains

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The livestock complex is gingerly heading into Monday's noon hour, seeming to question whether the market will be met with the same level of fundamental support that was available last week. New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Texas, somewhat higher in Nebraska/Colorado, but lower in Kansas. July corn is down 5 3/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $0.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 38.22 points and the NASDAQ is up 58.62 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Following last week's rally, the live cattle complex has thus far been able to maintain a higher position through Monday's market. With ample fundamental support encouraging the complex to trade higher, traders have been more than willing and receptive to the market's strong fundamentals which has pushed the contracts beyond resistance thresholds. June live cattle are up $1.15 at $227.45, August live cattle are up $0.52 at $219.40 and October live cattle are up $0.17 at $215.70. At some point, packers will get enough supply bought up to dampen the fed cash cattle market's fire-like rally, but until then, it's anyone's guess at this point where the market's top could be. New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Texas, somewhat higher in Nebraska/Colorado, but lower in Kansas.

Last week Southern live cattle traded at mostly $230 to $232, which is $8.00 to $10.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average, and Northern dressed cattle traded at mostly $380 which is $13.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $1.53 ($366.61) and select up $3.15 ($359.88) with a movement of 42 loads (21.18 loads of choice, 5.33 loads of select, 3.19 loads of trim and 12.18 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle contracts are trading higher as well, as the market is closely following the live cattle market's direction. And given the wild support in which the market's fundamentals (fed cash cattle trade, boxed beef prices, feeder cattle buyer demand) have recently seen, there's more than enough encouragement in the market to justify trader support. But the question that seems to be on everyone's mind and that frankly won't be answered until time plays the clock out is: where the top at? August feeders are down $0.02 at $310.10, September feeders are up $0.17 at $309.30 and October feeders are up $0.25 at $307.15.

LEAN HOGS:

The lean hog complex is trading mostly higher into Monday's noon hour as traders are hopeful that consumer demand will continue to help fuel the market's rally into this week. July lean hogs are down $0.05 at $107.05, August lean hogs are up $0.72 at $110.12 and October lean hogs are up $0.70 at $93.27. Pork cutout values are down slightly this morning, but that's mainly because of a $4.46 drop in the ham. Otherwise, the cuts are trading mostly higher.

The projected lean hog index for 6/6/2025 is up $0.68 at $99.05, and the actual index for 6/5/2025 is up $0.80 at $98.37. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 730 head have traded and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $100.68. Pork cutouts total 120.74 loads with 105.77 loads of pork cuts and 14.97 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.68, $110.83.