GENERAL COMMENTS:
It's been a mostly lower-waning morning for the livestock complex as most of the contracts are trading lower into midday Tuesday. More than anything, traders simply don't seem confident enough to push the contracts higher in any of the three livestock markets, and there's currently not enough fundamental support to help them do so. December corn is up 6 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is up $0.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 119.60 points and the NASDAQ is down 15.46 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
It's been a lower-trending day thus far for the live cattle complex as the market continues to struggle to find what direction is best for the near term. It's been a back-and-forth, whiplash kind of trade for the live cattle complex since Friday when the contracts broke sharply lower, but then on Monday, traders aggressively pushed the contracts higher, and now the contracts are somewhere in between the two mindsets. The market seems to be at odds with itself as traders know that the long-term fundamentals of the market are strong, but at the same time, it's fully expected that boxed beef prices will continue to wane in the upcoming weeks and that fed cash cattle prices could trade lower as well until holiday demand sees retailers more aggressive again. Which is why traders would like to support the complex, but are having a difficult time doing so confidently. October live cattle are down $1.95 at $232.65, December live cattle are down $1.75 at $234.52 and February live cattle are down $1.25 at $236.55. No developments have surfaced in the fed cash cattle complex yet, and won't likely until Wednesday at the earliest.
Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $2.70 ($395.83) and select down $2.86 ($375.94) with a movement of 84 loads (47.20 loads of choice, 10.78 loads of select, 7.53 loads of trim and 18.06 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Following in the live cattle market's footsteps, the feeder cattle contracts are also trading lower. September feeders are down $0.85 at $357.95, October feeders are down $1.10 at $353.40 and November feeders are down $2.05 at $348.20. One notable trend that's surfacing in sales across the countryside is that now, with the fall run fully underway, calves that are either unvaccinated or unweaned are trading notably lower than those that have been. And with buyers already paying substantially more for calves this year than in years past, it's easy to understand why they can't afford to take much of a risk on those cattle when their initial input price is so high.
LEAN HOGS :
The lean hog complex is trading mixed into Tuesday's noon hour as the market simply doesn't seem to possess enough support right now to push beyond its current resistance levels. October lean hogs are down $0.07 at $97.45, December lean hogs are down $0.72 a $88.12 and February lean hogs are down $0.30 at $90.15. Again, this morning, pork cutout values are also lower, which has been the theme lately of mixed consumer demand, which consequently isn't empowering the futures complex.
The projected lean hog index for 9/15/2025 is down $0.14 at $106.00 and the actual index for 9/12/2025 is steady at $106.14. Hog prices on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report average $105.97, ranging from $102.00 to $108.00 on 5,870 head and a five-day rolling average of $106.49. Pork cutouts values total 220.70 loads with 191.30 loads of pork cuts and 29.39 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $2.31, $111.76.
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