Wednesday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Cattle Inch Higher While Hogs Retreat

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The livestock complex is trading mixed as the cattle contracts continue to trade higher as traders are hopeful that the market's fundamental support will continue to justify their push of the contracts, but the lean hog contracts are trading lower. Still no cash cattle trade has developed. September corn is down 6 1/4 cents per bushel and August soybean meal is down $4.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 136.82 points and NASDAQ is up 205.49 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

The live cattle complex is also trading higher into Wednesday's noon hour as traders continue to find support in the market's fundamentals. The market is uncertain whether feedlot managers will be able to advance the fed cash cattle market again this week or if prices will trade merely steady because packers were able to get a sizeable volume purchased and committed last week to the nearby delivery option. Regardless, the futures complex is finding support and stability in the market's overall fundamental position as the fact remains that supplies are thin and demand is strong. No cash cattle trade has developed yet but asking prices are noted in the South at $238 to $240, and still remain unestablished in the North. It's also worth highlighting that for two days in a row now, midday boxed beef prices haven't only been higher -- both choice and select cuts have been over $4.00 higher each day.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $4.04 ($373.98) and select up $4.87 ($350.81) with a movement of 54 loads (29.76 loads of choice, 9.41 loads of select, 7.17 loads of trim and 7.51 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle complex is aggressively pushing towards today's noon hour with a lofty $2.00 advancement currently being seen across of the market's contracts. August feeder cattle are up $2.32 at $343.37, September feeder cattle are up $2.47 at $342.02 and October feeders are up $2.57 at $340.42. Today's big push puts the spot September contract into new territory, as the contract is currently trading at a new contract high at this point, and it's likely that the market will carry this momentum through the day's end.

LEAN HOGS:

The market's resistance pressure has taken hold of the lean hog complex, as all its contracts are retreating at this point. The market was bold and aggressively blew by the market's previous resistance at $91.00 in the spot October contract on Tuesday, but today traders aren't as confident that the market should continue to rally with such vigor. October lean hogs are down $0.87 at $91.92, December lean hogs are down $0.60 at $84.57 and February lean hogs are down $0.27 at $86.85.

The projected lean hog index for 8/5/2025 is up $0.04 at $109.60 and the actual index for 8/4/2025 is down $0.43 at $109.56. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $3.37 with a weighted average price of $114.35 ranging from $101.00 to $118.00 on 5,205 head with a five-day rolling average of $112.49. Pork cutouts total 240.52 loads with 213.85 loads of pork cuts and 26.67 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $2.05, $116.07.