GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex had a powerful day where the cattle contracts continue to surge higher, and the lean hog complex found some support as well. Still no trade has developed in the fed cash cattle market, but prices are expected to be higher again this week. September corn is up 2 1/2 cents per bushel and August soybean meal is down $1.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 171.71 points and NASDAQ is up 31.38 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle complex surged throughout Wednesday's trade as traders strongly believe that the fed cash cattle market is going to see higher prices again this week. It was rather impressive to note that the nearby contracts closed mostly $3.00 higher, but all of the live cattle contracts closed over $1.00 higher as the market's bullish moral remains unbridled. August live cattle closed $3.35 higher at $233.07, October live cattle closed $3.27 higher at $229.72 and December live cattle closed $3.15 higher at $229.90. Still no cash cattle trade has developed, but as mentioned above, it's fully assumed that prices are going to be higher again this week as packers don't have enough cattle around them. Asking prices are noted at $235 plus in the South, and bids of $235 sat in Kansas throughout the day without feedlot managers taking interest in its offer. Asking prices are still unestablished in the North.
Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 112,000 head -- 2,000 head less than a week ago and 8,000 head less than a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed lower: choice down $2.20 ($361.99) and select down $1.57 ($340.91) with a movement of 168 loads (120.81 loads of choice, 24.34 loads of select, 9.78 loads of trim and 13.50 loads of ground beef).
THURSDAY'S CATTLE CALL: Higher. Feedlot managers and packers are again going to go toe-to-toe this week, and it's anyone guess at this point how much higher prices are going to be.
FEEDER CATTLE:
The market continues to steamroll itself higher and higher and the feeder cattle complex didn't miss out on the opportunity to do just that throughout Wednesday's trade. August feeder cattle closed $2.75 higher at $338.95, September feeder cattle closed $2.67 higher at $339.75 and October feeder cattle closed $2.65 higher at $338.55. Feeder cattle demand in the countryside continues to be red hot, which is undoubtedly helping traders keep their ambitious pace in the futures complex. At Roswell Livestock Auction in Roswell, New Mexico, compared to last week steer calves weighing 450 to 550 pounds sold $17.00 to $20.00 higher, but heifer calves weighing 500 to 600 pounds sold $10.00 to $15.00 lower. Slaughter cows sold $1.00 to $7.00 higher and slaughter bulls traded steady to $5.00 higher. Feeder cattle supply over 600 pounds was 17%. The CME feeder cattle index 7/29/2025: up $0.83, $333.03.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex successfully rounded out the day mostly higher as traders were pleased to see the improvement in the market's fundamentals. August lean hogs closed $0.22 lower at $107.02, October lean hogs closed $0.47 higher at $89.20 and December lean hogs closed $0.40 higher at $81.20. It was jaw-dropping to see an astonishing 16,000 head trade in today's cash market as obviously packers were short bought headed into this week. Then to only help matters more, pork cutout values closed slightly higher, which helped further the case that the market's fundamentals were indeed supportive today. Hog prices closed higher on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report, up $1.20 with a weighted average price of $113.34 on 16,501 head.
Pork cutouts totaled 309.46 loads with 281.84 loads of pork cuts and 27.63 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.15, $116.00. Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 478,000 head -- 5,000 head more than a week ago and 1,000 head less than a year ago. The CME lean hog index 7/28/2025: up $0.11, $110.41.
THURSDAY'S HOG CALL: Lower. Given the big volume of hogs sold today, it's likely that packers have fulfilled the vast majority of their needs for the week and will only minimally participate in the cash market for the remainder of the week.
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