Thursday, May 14, 2026

Thursday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Cattle Trade Higher While Hogs Scale Lower

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The livestock complex is trading mixed into Thursday's noon hour as the cattle contracts again move higher, but the lean hog market's support has fizzled out. Some more light cash cattle trade has been noted in the North at $415, which is $12.00 higher than last week's weighted average. July corn is down 15 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $7.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 377.35 points and NASDAQ is up 237.68 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

The futures market is holding its wits together this morning and continuing to move higher as traders are allowing the contracts to successfully rally roughly $1.00 higher into Thursday's noon hour. More than anything the continued support from the relentless cash market has helped keep the contracts elevated. Yet again Thursday morning more cash trade has taken place and prices have been marked higher. Thus far this morning there's been a handful of cattle traded in Nebraska at $415 -- which is $12 higher than last week's weighted average. Otherwise earlier this week light trade took place every day with some pretty wide ranges. Northern dressed deals have traded in a range of $400 to $410, mostly $405 to $410, $2 to $7 higher than last week's weighted averages. Southern live deals have had a range of $260 to $265, mostly $260 to $262, $3 to $5 higher than the prior week's weighted averages. But thanks to the continued efforts of feedlot managers, the market is witnessing a true rally in the cash market where price discovery is the main theme of this bullish run.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.01 ($388.67) and select up $0.75 ($389.33) with a movement of 59 loads (43.42 loads of choice, 3.21 loads of select, 6.99 loads of trim and 5.17 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle contracts are also enjoying a modest rally into Thursday's noon hour as the market is grateful to see the live cattle contracts trading higher which lends some additional technical support. May feeders are up $2.12 at $369.45, August feeders are up $1.77 at $362.70 and September feeders are up $2.40 at $360.37. Luckily Thursday's upward move has helped pull the spot August contract up to the market's 40-day moving average which remains a threshold that bull-spreaders should want the complex to conquer.

LEAN HOGS:

The lean hog complex is lower heading into Thursday's noon hour as traders would like to continue to see the contracts scale higher but aren't confident there's currently enough support in the market to successfully do so. Yes, midday pork cutout values are higher, but the cash market has been of little support this week. June lean hogs are down $1.30 at $99.57, July lean hogs are down $1.07 at $104.80 and August lean hogs are down $1.02 at $105.50.

The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 5/13/2026 is down $0.26 at $90.48, and the actual index for 5/12/2026 is up $0.26 at $90.74. Hog prices are not available on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 265 head have traded this morning and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $95.04. Pork cutouts total 167.16 loads with 138.19 loads of pork cuts and 28.97 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.77, $96.80.




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