GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex closed mostly lower Wednesday afternoon as traders didn't see the support they needed develop throughout the day. Still no cash cattle trade has developed. March corn is up 2 3/4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $5.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 466.00 points and the NASDAQ is up 37.10 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
All in all, the live cattle complex's day can be summarized as follows: traders yearn to trade the contracts higher, but until immediate fundamental support develops, prices are likely to trade steady, if not a tick lower, as traders don't want to technically overdo the market's rally. February live cattle closed $2.10 lower at $234.52, April live cattle closed $2.20 lower at $235.17 and June live cattle closed $2.05 loads at $230.02. Still no cash cattle trade developed throughout the day, but asking prices are noted at $235 to $237 in the South.
Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 115,000 head, incomparable to last week but 8,000 head less than a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed mixed: choice up $3.03 ($354.28) and select down $1.80 ($349.28) with a movement of 139 loads (103.05 loads of choice, 14.39 loads of select, 4.99 loads of trim and 16.20 loads of ground beef).
THURSDAY'S CATTLE CALL: Higher. With packers having not bought many cattle over the last two weeks, prices will likely be higher this week.
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle complex also closed lower as traders simply weren't willing to advance the feeder cattle contracts, all while seeing the live cattle contracts scale slightly lower. And as traders looked back and saw the sizeable rally in which the market has successfully posted over the last two weeks, hitting the pause button on the market didn't seem like a bad option. January feeders closed $2.57 lower at $359.60, March feeders closed $3.52 lower at $355.50 and April feeders closed $3.45 lower at $354.67. At the Winter Livestock Auction in La Junta, Colorado, compared to their last sale in December, feeder steers traded mostly $4.00 to $5.00 higher, but sharply higher instances were noted. Feeder heifers sold sharply higher across all weight groups. Feeder cattle supply over 600 pounds was 60%. The CME feeder cattle index 1/6/2026: up $0.78, $363.15.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex also closed lower as traders ran into some resistance pressure. February lean hogs closed $0.87 lower at $84.80, April lean hogs closed $1.30 lower at $90.27 and June lean hogs closed $0.75 lower at $103.52. But it was supportive to note the slight uptick in pork cutout values, which largely stemmed from the market's $3.19 jump in the rib. Hog prices closed lower on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $3.75 with a weighted average price of $71.61 on 933 head. Pork cutouts totaled 330.57 loads with 295.81 loads of pork cuts and 34.76 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.04, $92.29. Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 496,000 head, incomparable to last week but 12,000 head more than a year ago. The CME lean hog index 1/5/2026: down $0.08, $81.54.
THURSDAY'S HOG CALL: Steady. Packers haven't shown the cash hog market much interest this week, and there's a chance that they won't buy much more later this week either.
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