Monday Midday Livestock Market Update - Traders Continue to Show Up and Support the Contracts

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The livestock complex is trading mostly higher into Monday's noon hour, aside from a couple of the nearby contracts in both the feeder cattle and lean hog markets. New showlists are mixed this week as showlists are lighter in Texas and Kansas, but larger in Nebraska and Colorado. December corn is up 5 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is up $0.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 525.30 points and NASDAQ is up 518.77 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Traders continue to be supportive of the live cattle complex heading into the new week as the contracts are all trading higher. August live cattle are up $0.55 at $232.30, October live cattle are up $0.50 at $227.75 and December live cattle are up $0.47 at $227.42. Packers must be short bought heading into this new week as bids have already surfaced in Kansas at $233. Asking prices are not yet established, but it's assumed that prices will be steady if not higher again this week. New showlists are mixed this week as showlists are lighter in Texas and Kansas, but larger in Nebraska and Colorado.

Last week, Southern live cattle traded from $231 to $233, which is $1 to $3 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Northern dressed cattle traded at from $365 to $368, which is steady to $3 higher.

Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $5.36 ($366.74) and select down $2.25 ($343.98) with a movement of 54 loads (19.24 loads of choice, 17.38 loads of select, 5.52 loads of trim and 11.56 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

And with the continued support of the live cattle market's higher trend, the feeder cattle contracts are mostly trading higher into Monday's noon hour as well. A couple of the nearby contracts are trading lower, which is likely stemming from the fact that demand in the countryside has been mixed even though the board has been committed to trading higher recently. August feeders are down $0.52 at $347.50, September feeders are down $0.17 at $343.60 and October feeders are up $0.20 at $335.55.

LEAN HOGS:

Even with midday pork cutout values higher, the lean hog contracts are trading mixed into Monday's noon hour with the nearby contracts remaining skeptical while the deferred contracts inch higher. More than anything, traders likely want to see consistent support from consumers before they'll push the contracts any higher for the time being. August lean hogs are down $1.17 at $97.67, October lean hogs are down $1.35 at $83.50 and December lean hogs are down $0.67 at $75.00. The projected lean hog index for 7/31/2026 is down $0.55 at $97.68 and the actual index for 7/30/2026 is down $0.21 at $98.23. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 551 head have traded and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $101.14. Pork cutouts total 161.02 loads with 149.52 loads of pork cuts and 11.50 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.44, $102.45.