Monday Midday Livestock Market Update -

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The livestock complex is trading higher into midday Monday as the market continues to see strong demand. Showlists are lower in the North but higher in the South. December corn is up 1 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $2.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 22.65 points and the NASDAQ is down 41.38 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Following the strong boxed beef rally that took place last week, mixed with the continued support of strong demand early again this week, traders have elected to continue to push the live cattle contracts higher. October live cattle are up $0.95 at $231.60, December live cattle are up $1.15 at $223.32 and February live cattle are up $1.47 at $234.27. The market is nearing resistance pressure (which hovers around $232 in the spot October contract). It will be especially interesting to see how packers handle this week's fed cash cattle market, as last week a thin movement transpired in the North, but the South didn't see any cattle trade in Texas and just a thin movement in Kansas.

Last week Northern dressed cattle traded at mostly $383 to $386, which is $3.00 to $5.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. The dealings in the South were scant, as only a thin movement transpired in Kansas at $232 to $237, which is anywhere from $3.00 lower to $2.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average, and not a single hoof was traded in Texas by the cutoff time on Friday.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $3.57 ($404.14) and select up $6.81 ($377.57) with a movement of 26 loads (15.38 loads of choice, 5.55 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 4.76 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle complex is also jumping with joy as it continues to scale higher and higher, as traders are pleased with seeing the live cattle contracts trading higher and the ginormous demand in which calves/feeders are continuing to see in the countryside. September feeders are up $2.22 at $349.57, October feeders are up $2.77 at $348.77 and November feeders are up $3.22 at $346.70. Like the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle market is nearing resistance, and some traders will have to decide soon whether or not that threshold can be conquered or if prices need to soften.

LEAN HOGS:

Following last week's technical correction, the lean hog complex is back to trading higher as traders now have enough room to trade higher without being up against immediate resistance pressure, and are again thankful to see pork cutout prices trading higher. October lean hogs are up $0.42 at $90.52, December lean hogs are up $0.80 at $83.82 and February lean hogs are up $0.95 at $86.57. Across the board of the major pork cuts, prices are trending mostly higher, but again today it's the belly that saw the biggest day-over-day increase, with its $7.46 increase.

The projected lean hog index is delayed from the source. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 154 head have traded and that the market's five-day rolling average sits at $109.85. Pork cutouts totaled 144.63 loads with 123.62 loads of pork cuts and 21.01 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.38, $118.78.