GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is again fully lower moving into Friday's noon hour as traders simply haven't seen the fundamental support they yearn for this week. A few more sales have developed in the cash market, but at this point the week's trade is mostly done. May corn is down 2 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $0.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1,068.16 points and NASDAQ is up 394.56 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The fed cash cattle market was only able to hold part of the market steady while the other part traded anywhere from $1.00 to $3.00 lower. Unfortunately, traders simply aren't seeing the fundamental support they need or desire. Consequently, that's pushing the live cattle contracts lower into Friday's noon hour. April live cattle are down $0.87 at $249.42, June live cattle are down $1.25 at $246.30 and August live cattle are down $1.07 at $242.00. There's been a bit more trade noted this morning in the South at $248, which is steady with Thursday's business and also steady with the previous week's weighted average. But the North is unfortunately seeing cattle trade lower. There's been some cattle marked in the North to a regional packer for the week of May 11 and currently they're trading at $386, which is $2.00 to $3.00 lower than Thursday's business. On Thursday, Northern cattle were trading at mostly $388 to $389, which is steady to $1.00 lower than last week's weighted average. At this point it's looking like the bulk of the week's trade is complete, although a few more sales could develop after the afternoon's Cattle on Feed report.
Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $0.35 ($381.22) and select down $1.12 ($377.36) with a movement of 71 loads (58.82 loads of choice, 3.55 loads of select, 3.92 loads of trim and 4.43 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
In typical feeder cattle complex behavior, the contracts are also trading lower as the market isn't willing to move in the opposite direction of the live cattle complex right now. April feeders are down $3.52 at $369.55, May feeders are down $3.65 at $363.50 and August feeders are down $4.02 at $364.50. At this point, a lower tone is fully expected through Friday's close even though this afternoon's Cattle on Feed report is expected to be mildly bullish.
LEAN HOGS:
It's been a long, draining week for the lean hog complex and that description has thus far kept with the market through Friday's trade. June lean hogs are down $0.67 at $101.00, July lean hogs are down $0.42 at $103.92 and August lean hogs are down $0.45 at $104.12. While it may be frustrating to see midday pork cutout values higher and traders giving that fundamental uptick no recognition, that's simply been the case all week as the market can't seem to find any technical support.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 4/16/2026 is down $0.15 at $90.51 and the actual index for 4/15/2026 is up $0.06 at $90.66. Hog prices average $90.76 on the Daily Direct Morning Hog report, ranging from $89.50 to $91.00 on 1,063 head and a five-day rolling average of $91.03. Pork cutouts total 230.77 loads with 206.39 loads of pork cuts and 24.39 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $3.48, $100.16.
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