GENERAL COMMENTS:
It's been a mixed morning for the livestock complex. Cattle futures are lower; hog futures are mildly higher, and -- believe it or not -- some bids have already appeared in the cash cattle market. New showlists appear to be mixed higher in Texas, but lower in Kansas and Nebraska/Colorado. July corn is up 4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $6.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 42.87 points and NASDAQ is up 99.86 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Although the cash market traded higher last week and boxed beef prices are higher at the week's start, traders continue to seem committed to pushing the live cattle futures lower Monday as the contracts are trending $1.00 to $2.00 lower. June live cattle are down $0.25 at $248.65, August live cattle are down $1.12 at $242.95 and October live cattle closed $2.17 lower at $236.35. It is wild, however, to see some bids have already surfaced at $260 in most regions as it's looking like this week again packers are short bought, even though they bought a whopping 107,353 head in last week's cash market. Even a few sales have surfaced in Kansas already Monday morning at $260 -- which is $3.00 higher than last week's weighted average.
Last week Northern dressed sales were marked at mostly $402, which is $3.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Southern live cattle traded at mostly $256 to $257, which is $2.00 to $3.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Last week's negotiated cash cattle trade totaled 107,454 head. Of that 71% (76,701 head) are committed to the nearby delivery, while the remaining 29% are committed to the market's deferred delivery option.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $2.27 ($390.66) and select up $4.74 ($389.75) with a movement of 53 loads (28.66 loads of choice, 4.26 loads of select, 9.44 loads of trim and 10.79 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
Continuing to keep in perfect alignment with the live cattle contracts, the feeder cattle futures are also trading lower. But what's especially painful to note about the downward trend in the feeder cattle complex is the fact that the spot August contract is now trading below its 40-day moving average, which could ignite continued downward pressure for the complex as it's a vulnerable technical position to be in. May feeders are down $0.90 at $366.47, August feeders are down $4.50 at $359.57 and September feeders are down $4.80 at $357.42.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex is thankfully seeing some support through Monday's trade as all of its contracts are scaling higher into the noon hour. Late last week pork demand improved and thankfully demand is remaining strong here Monday -- which could be why traders are willing to mildly support the contracts. June lean hogs are up $0.80 at $99.42, July lean hogs are up $0.62 at $103.82 and August lean hogs are up $0.40 at $104.82.
The projected CME Lean Hog Index is delayed from the source. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because no hogs have traded yet this week. Pork cutouts totaled 177.92 loads with 166.10 loads of pork cuts and 11.82 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.23, $98.79.
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