Monday Midday Livestock Market Summary - Cattle Run Higher at the Week's Start

GENERAL COMMENTS:

With the help of strong equity markets, and the fact that last week's fed cash cattle market traded higher, the cattle contracts are trading higher into Monday's noon hour. New showlists appear to be higher in all major feeding states. July corn is down 4 3/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $1.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 154.78 points and NASDAQ is down 329.69 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

I personally was worried that Friday's Cattle on Feed report was going to be absorbed in a bearish manner by the market, given the fact that we currently sit with a greater number of cattle on feed than compared to a year ago, and our marketings continue to dwindle. But thankfully on Friday (when the markets were closed), packers and feedlot managers hashed out last week's fed cash cattle trade and lo and behold, prices ended up being anywhere from $2.00 to $5.00 higher. Couple the cash cattle market's recent success with the fact that the equity markets are trading higher, and traders have been willing to look beyond last week's COF report and allow the live cattle contracts to trade higher. June live cattle are up $0.92 at $255.72, August live cattle are up $0.42 at $247.05 and October live cattle are up $0.65 at $240.62. New showlists appear to be higher in all major feeding states.

Last week, both live and dressed deals waited to develop until Friday, but Southern live cattle traded at mostly $258 to $260, which is $2.00 to $5.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Northern dressed cattle traded anywhere from $408 to $410, but mostly at $408, which is $3.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average.

Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $1.24 ($395.61) and select up $1.86 ($373.94) with a movement of 42 loads (28.42 loads of choice, 2.35 loads of select, 6.24 loads of trim and 5.18 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

The feeder cattle contracts are continuing to trade higher as the market feels well supported by a number of different fronts right now. August feeder cattle are up $3.27 at $369.87, September feeders are up $3.60 at $368.27 and October feeders are up $3.75 at $365.50. And as long as the live cattle contracts continue to rally through the day's end, it's likely that the feeder cattle contracts will do the same.

LEAN HOGS:

The lean hog contracts, meanwhile, are trading mixed as traders would like to think with midday pork cutout values higher that the contracts should be able to scale higher too, but with the contracts at resistance levels, traders are remaining cautious. Not to mention, demand has been fickle in recent weeks and traders want to see more than one single day's worth of higher prices before they become too bullish. July lean hogs are down $0.07 at $94.90, August lean hogs are up $0.47 at $97.20 and October lean hogs are up $0.27 at $81.60. The projected lean hog index for 6/19/2026 is down $0.67 at $91.77 and the actual index for 6/17/2026 is up $0.01 at $92.44. Hog prices on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report are not available because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 195 head have traded and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $96.65. Pork cutouts total 133.55 loads with 116.00 loads of pork cuts and 17.55 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.21, $96.98.