GENERAL COMMENTS:
Although there have been some positive developments in the fed cash cattle market, that has yet to benefit the cattle contracts, as currently both the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts are trading lower into midday Thursday. Some light trade has been marked in the North at $402, which is $3.00 higher than last week's weighted average. Some light trade has been noted in the South at $256 to $257, which is $2.00 higher than last week's weighted average. July corn is down 2 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $0.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 190.58 points and the NASDAQ is up 32.95 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
The live cattle contracts may be trading slightly lower, but thankfully, that's not hindering the cash market's ability to trade higher. Within the last hour, there's been some light trade noted in the North at $402, which is $3.00 higher than last week's weighted average, and some light trade has developed in the South at $256 to $257, which is $2.00 higher than last week's weighted average. So even though last week's market jumped $9.00 to $14.00 higher, packers are obviously still short bought and in need of more cattle as they're having to push prices higher again this week in the cash market. One would hope that this bullish development in the market's fundamentals would have a positive effect on the futures complex, but as of right now, the contracts are still trading mildly lower. June live cattle are down $0.45 at $253.02, August live cattle are down $0.95 at $247.95 and October live cattle are down $1.62 at $242.12.
Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $2.04 ($387.58) and select down $4.55 ($385.08) with a movement of 72 loads (46.40 loads of choice, 2.78 loads of select, 17.22 loads of trim and 5.78 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
And even though there have been some positive developments in the fed cash cattle market, the feeder cattle contracts are opting to trade in alignment with the live cattle contracts, as currently most of the feeder cattle contracts are trading $2.00 lower into midday Thursday. May feeders are down $2.40 at $369.72, August feeders are down $2.85 at $370.20 and September feeders are down $2.45 at $368.85. If the live cattle contracts happen to trade higher ahead of the day's close, then there's a strong chance that the feeder cattle contracts will follow the live cattle market's lead and could see stronger prices ahead of the market close, too, but as always, time will tell.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex is trading mixed into midday Thursday as the nearby contracts are currently trading mildly higher while the deferred contracts continue to trade lower. It is helpful to see that midday pork cutout values are up slightly, but before traders will trust that development, they'll need to see multiple days in which pork demand is stronger. June lean hogs are up $0.55 at $100.25, July lean hogs are up $0.52 at $102.77 and August lean hogs are up $0.42 at $103.72. The projected lean hog index for 5/6/2026 is down $0.17 at $91.02 and the actual index for 5/5/2026 is up $0.09 at $91.19. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 243 head have traded and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $94.82. Pork cutouts total 186.16 loads with 167.53 loads of pork cuts and 18.63 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.35, $96.45.
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