Tuesday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Traders Look for Continued Fundamental Support

GENERAL COMMENTS:

It's been a mostly uneventful morning for the livestock complex as the markets are trading, but traders seem to be holding their breath until it's seen how the fundamentals are going to shake out this week. No bids or asking prices have surfaced yet for the fed cash cattle market. July corn is up 4 1/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $0.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 81.25 points and NASDAQ is up 72.69 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

The live cattle complex is trading lower as traders seem to be uncomfortable advancing the contracts any higher without seeing renewed fundamental support this week. June live cattle are down $0.75 at $226.25, August live cattle are down $1.67 at $217.57 and October live cattle are down $1.27 at $214.60. Although one could point to the market's higher boxed beef prices as support, given the historical price point in which the market is trading at, traders need more support to justify trading the contracts any higher. Bids and asking prices are still elusive at this point and trade isn't expected to develop until later in the week.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $3.91 ($371.16) and select up $0.89 ($359.82) with a movement of 62 loads (34.58 loads of choice, 9.59 loads of select, 3.28 loads of trim and 14.72 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle complex is trading higher despite the fact that the live cattle contracts are trading mildly lower into Tuesday's noon hour. For the most part, the feeder cattle complex has followed in the live cattle market's shadow step by step over the last couple weeks, but today, the market seems to possess enough support to trade higher while the live cattle contract pauses its own rally. August feeders are up $0.42 at $312.07, September feeders are up $0.62 at $311.32 and October feeders are up $0.47 at $308.85.

LEAN HOGS:

The lean hog complex is trading skeptically as traders want to continue to support the market and push prices higher, but traders need to see furthered consistent, fundamental support before they'll fully dive in and do so. July lean hogs are up $0.52 at $107.72, August lean hogs are down $0.70 at $109.40 and October lean hogs are down $0.67 at $92.62. But with the belly's price improvement, the morning's carcass price was able to sprint higher.

The projected lean hog index for 6/9/2025 is up $0.92 at $99.97, and the actual index for 6/6/2025 is up $0.68 at $99.05. Hog prices on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report average $105.85, ranging from $100.00 to $108.00 on 4,455 head and a five-day rolling average of $103.29. Pork cutouts total 154.96 loads with 143.86 loads of pork cuts and 11.10 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.86, $111.15.