GENERAL COMMENTS:
Wednesday, livestock futures closed mixed as the cattle complex remains too skeptical to be overly bullish and the lean hog complex has come into some support. Some light cash cattle trade developed in Nebraska, but not enough volume has traded to say any sort of a trend has been established yet for the week. May corn is steady and July soybean meal is down $3.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 265.20 points and NASDAQ is up 343.57 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Without enough fundamental support, the live cattle complex closed lower Wednesday afternoon. April live cattle closed $0.57 lower at $246.85, June live cattle closed $0.47 lower at $243.07 and August live cattle closed $0.52 lower at $239.17. Some light cash cattle trade did develop in the north as one regional packer in eastern Nebraska was able to buy some dressed cattle at $386 and some live cattle at $246; but not enough volume has traded yet to say any sort of trend has been established for the week. Packer interest will likely improve Thursday.
Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 111,000 head -- 2,000 head more than a week ago and 9,000 head less than a week ago.
Boxed beef prices closed lower: choice down $1.99 ($384.19) and select down $3.87 ($383.33) with a movement of 117 loads (102.91 loads of choice, 6.74 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 7.76 loads of ground beef).
THURSDAY'S CATTLE CALL: Steady to $1.00 lower. With the board trending on the cautious side this week, it's likely the fed cash cattle market will trade steady at best.
FEEDER CATTLE:
With the live cattle contracts lower, there being no sizeable trade yet in the fed cash cattle market, and corn prices lightly scaling higher, traders felt it was in their best interest to not be overly ambitious and to merely let the feeder cattle contracts close lower. May feeders closed $0.12 lower at $358.42, August feeders closed $0.07 lower at $358.87 and September feeders closed $0.25 lower at $356.42. At Kingsville Livestock Auction in Kingsville, Missouri, compared to last week steer and heifer calves sold steady to $10.00 lower with some $15.00 lower; yearlings sold mostly steady. Demand was good for a moderate to heavy supply but the steers weighing 600 to 650 pounds carrying a bit more flesh did see less demand. Feeder cattle supply over 600 pounds was 59%. The CME Feeder Cattle Index 4/21/2026: down $0.93, $373.44.
LEAN HOGS:
All in all, the lean hog complex had a victorious day as, aside from its spot June contract, the contracts closed fully higher. June lean hogs closed $0.57 lower at $102.62, July lean hogs closed $0.47 higher at $105.70 and August lean hogs closed $1.00 higher at $106.12. It was somewhat disappointing to see pork cutout values close lower this afternoon. If demand doesn't improve in the upcoming days, the board may not be as confident as it's relying on fundamental support. Hog prices closed lower on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $0.38 with a weighted average price of $92.27 on 2,860 head. Pork cutouts totaled 300.32 loads with 265.40 loads of pork cuts and 34.93 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.79, $98.55. Wednesday's slaughter is estimated at 495,000 head -- 1,000 head more than a week ago and 21,000 head more than a year ago. The CME Lean Hog Index 4/20/2026: up $0.14, $90.51.
THURSDAY'S HOG CALL: Steady/somewhat lower. At this point packers will likely only light-heartedly participate in the market through the remainer of the week.
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