Monday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Contracts Head Into The Noon Hour Mixed

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The livestock complex is heading into Monday's noon hour with a mixed tone, as traders desire to push the contracts higher, but need to see more fundamental support before they'll confidently do so. New showlists are higher in Texas, Kansas and mostly steady in Nebraska/Colorado. March corn is down 2 1/2 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is down $6.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 4.73 points and NASDAQ is up 247.60 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

The live cattle complex is taking a mixed approach to Monday's noon hour as the market continues to desire to trade higher -- but traders need to see continued fundamental support and reassurance before they'll likely push the market up to or beyond resistance thresholds. February live cattle are up $1.02 at $238.77, April live cattle are up $0.45 at $237.70 and June live cattle are down $0.17 at $233.67. Thankfully the market seems to be sensibly digesting the news from last Friday where President Trump announced the U.S. would be lowering duties on 80,000 metric tons(mt) of lean beef trimmings from Argentia -- which won't negatively impact our market by any means. It's reassuring to see traders aren't having a dramatic psychological reaction to the headline. New showlists are higher in Texas, Kansas and mostly steady in Nebraska/Colorado.

Last week Southern live cattle traded at mostly $240 to $245, but mostly at $242 to $245 which is $3.00 to $6.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Northern dressed cattle traded at mostly $378 which is $1.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $0.28 ($369.61) and select up $2.06 ($366.59) with a movement of 23 loads (14.77 loads of choice, 2.95 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 5.06 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

Upon seeing the live cattle complex trading mixed with no immediate, fundamental support to excite traders, the feeder cattle complex is also mixed. March feeders are down $0.70 at $366.72, April feeders are down $0.32 at $362.47 and May feeders are up $0.10 at $357.22. Until traders see continued fundamental support, it's likely a sideways trend could be established early this week.

LEAN HOGS:

Upon establishing what seems to be a new top last week in the lean hog complex, the market continues to trade lower as traders question if there's enough support to challenge that new threshold. April lean hogs are down $1.32 at $96.62, June lean hogs are down $1.05 at $109.55 and July lean hogs are down $0.77 at $110.97. Thankfully, pork demand remains red-hot right now and that could lend traders enough fundamental support if prices continue to scale higher later in the week.

The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 2/6/2026 is down $0.11 at $86.46, and the actual index for 2/5/2026 is up $0.19 at $86.57. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because no hogs have been traded yet. But we can note that the market's five-day rolling average sits at $86.12. Pork cutouts total 181.81 loads with 161.12 loads of pork cuts and 20.69 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.52, $96.29.