GENERAL COMMENTS:
It's been a painstaking day for the cattle complex, as both the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts are trading sharply lower, with traders continuing to panic about the market's technical state. Meanwhile, still no developments have surfaced in the cash market and aren't expected to until Wednesday or later. December corn is down 2 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is up $2.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 79.29 points and the NASDAQ is up 12.98 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Thus far throughout the day, Tuesday has been quite the tumultuous ride for the cattle complex. At the day's initial start, the market was trading slightly lower, but as the morning has progressed, traders have exacerbated the day's decline to be one that's sharp and painful to watch, as most of the live cattle contracts are trading $4.00 to $6.00 lower. And why, you ask? More than anything, today's move seems to be triggered by technical nervousness, as traders continue to worry about the market's position and know that fundamental support could be slightly weaker for the next little while, as cash prices could be lower and seasonally boxed beef prices could decline as well. October live cattle are down $5.05 at $230.72, December live cattle are down $5.75 at $231.87 and February live cattle are down $6.05 at $233.17. No developments have surfaced this morning in the fed cash cattle market and aren't expected to until Wednesday or later this week.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.10 ($409.59) and select up $2.99 ($388.33) with a movement of 89 loads (50.53 loads of choice, 22.55 loads of select, 3.02 loads of trim and 13.15 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Did you think Monday afternoon that come Tuesday, the feeder cattle complex would be trading limit lower in most of its contracts? I hate to speculate, but I think it's safe to say that most of us didn't foresee the cattle complex toppling down so aggressively, given that from a fundamental perspective, feeder cattle demand is incredible -- the CME feeder cattle index closed at $367.03 Monday afternoon. But what's important to keep in perspective here is that even though it's frustrating, and even though so many factors say that today's actions simply shouldn't be, traders don't have to obey sound logic, and not every move complements the reality of the countryside's fundamentals. September feeders are down $9.05 at $351.90, October feeders are down $9.25 at $349.92 and November feeders are down $9.25 at $348.87.
LEAN HOGS:
While the cattle complex falls flat on its face, the lean hog complex is also seeing its contracts drift slightly lower, but not to the severe degree in which the cattle contracts are trading. More than anything, the slight pullback in the hog sector seems to be because traders are noting resistance pressure, and midday pork cutout values are lower, too. October lean hogs are up $0.77 at $95.92, December lean hogs are down $0.22 at $87.92 and February lean hogs are down $0.40 at $90.27.
The projected lean hog index for 9/8/2025 is down $0.04 at $105.87 and the actual index for 9/5/2025 is down $0.01 at $105.91. Hog prices on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report average $106.93, ranging from $101.00 to $108.00 on 6,615 head and a five-day rolling average of $105.94. Pork cutouts total 179.87 loads with 155.03 loads of pork cuts and 24.84 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.81, $115.57.
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