DTN Closing Livestock Comments

GENERAL COMMENTS: Feedlot country was certainly colored by more bids and asking prices Thursday, but that didn't mean much in terms of actual trade volume. Live bids in the South were mostly $115, $5 to $7 below common asking prices. Dressed bids in the North ranged from $185 to $187, also $5 to $7 short of area pricing. According to the closing report, the national hog base is unchanged compared with the Prior Day settlement ($42 to $47.50, weighted average $46.42). March corn ended down a penny, holding steady in a narrow range this month and staying below resistance at $3.90. Equities closed mixed with the Dow up 70 points and the Nasdaq down by 27.

LIVE CATTLE: For the most part, live futures closed moderately higher, with only February and April slipping a bit lower. The action here was rather listless and not very telling relative to late week cash prospects. Beef cut-outs closed mixed with the choice up $0.22 ($212.47) and select off $0.57 ($201.00). Box demand was called light to moderate demand with moderate offering.

FRIDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL: Steady to $2 higher. Moderate to active business is expected to surface late Friday afternoon with packers probably forced once again to throw more wood on the late year cash fire.

FEEDER CATTLE: Feeders have been on a decent roll this week, once again successful on Thursday in closing $0.40 to $1.00 higher. The cash index took a big jump, but keep in mind that the index tends to be volatile in late December thanks to light country receipts. CME cash feeder Index for 12/12: $146.40 up $1.42

LEAN HOGS. With the exception of soon-to-expire December (up $0.07), lean futures ended moderately lower (i.e., $0.12 to $1.60), checked by large premiums and challenging late year fundamentals. Friday we will see the changing of the guard with February gearing up to take the spot lead on Monday. Carcass value staged a decent rebound, boosted by better demand for all primals except the picnic. The cut-out totaled $73.17, up $0.73. (DTN Projected lean index for CME cash lean index for 12/12: $55.36, off $0.18) CME cash lean index for 12/11: $55.54, off $0.44.

FRIDAY'S CASH HOG CALL: Steady. The late week cash hog trade seems likely to open with generally steady bids as mid-month fundamentals come into better balance.

John Harrington can be reached at feelofthemarket@yahoo.com

Follow John Harrington on Twitter @feelofthemarket

(CZ)

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