GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is mixed heading into Tuesday's noon hour as the cattle futures are experiencing some technical exhaustion and the lean hog complex is as well. Still no cash cattle trade has developed. May corn is down 5 1/2 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $4.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 239.41 points and NASDAQ is down 156.24 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
After rallying aggressively over the last seven trading days, the live cattle complex seems to be waiving its white flag, and is experiencing some exhaustion after such a tremendous mpve. April live cattle are up $0.35 at $248.37, June live cattle are down $1.04 at $245.97 and August live cattle are down $1.07 at $241.80. Until the market sees what's going to develop fundamentally this week, a sideways or potentially even minor lower trend may begin to develop. At this point no new cash cattle trade has developed and trade will likely be delayed until the later part of the week. Do note that JBS workers are returning to work Tuesday at the Greeley, Colorado, packing plant which ends a long, three-week strike that began on March 16. Negotiations will continue on Thursday and Friday as no labor agreement has been reached yet.
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $1.87 ($386.17) and select up $0.26 ($388.63) with a movement of 73 loads (61.91 loads of choice,
FEEDER CATTLE:
Keeping in perfect unison with the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle contracts are also trading slightly lower into Tuesday's noon hour. April feeders are down $3.37 at $368.65, May feeders are down $3.65 at $366.70 and August feeders are down $3.65 at $366.17. Until the live cattle complex turns higher again, it's likely the feeder cattle contracts will remain skeptical of trading much higher.
LEAN HOGS:
Following Monday's rapid surge, the lean hog complex is also seeing some minor resistance in its nearby contracts while its deferred contracts continue to scale higher. April lean hogs are down $0.05 at $90.42, June lean hogs are down $0.65 at $107.05 and July lean hogs are down $0.27 at $109.67. Midday pork cutout values are up slightly, which is helpful from a fundamental sense, but until traders regain confidence, the market could simply hold steady.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 4/6/2026 is up $0.13 at $90.06, and the actual index for 4/3/2026 is down $0.08 at $89.93. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 1,370 head have traded this morning and the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $90.28. Pork cutouts total 165.82 loads with 151.11 loads of pork cuts and 14.71 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.51, $99.55.
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