DTN Before The Bell-Livestock

GENERAL COMMENTS

Livestock futures remain under light pressure with very little market momentum seen early Monday morning. Narrow losses are seen in most futures as most traders are on the sidelines waiting for additional direction before stepping into the market. Corn markets are trading higher in light trade activity. The stock market is trading higher in light early trade. Dow Jones is 7 points higher while Nasdaq is up 5 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Opening call: Steady to 50 cents lower. Light selling pressure is seen in live cattle futures which is seen Monday morning. The narrow market losses is keeping April live cattle markets near the $120 per cwt threshold, but there is still very little market direction developing across the complex in order to get traders excited over the next several hours. Many traders are willing to sit on the sidelines at this time as they wait for additional direction. Single-digit price moves are seen in nearby contracts, and this narrow range may hold through much of the morning. Cash cattle markets are quiet early Monday morning with show list distribution the main order of business. Bids and asking prices will be undeveloped for the first half of the week and likely to be focusing on short bought packer interest once again. Open interest Thursday fell 984 positions (389,561). Spot April liquidated 2,916 positions (37,099) and June contracts added 821 positions (182,866). DTN projected slaughter for Friday is 112,000 head.

FEEDER CATTLE:

Opening call: 50 cents to $1 lower. Initial trade has pulled back from late week gains in feeder cattle trade as traders have moved back into the market Monday morning. This has pushed front-month April futures below $133 per cwt which could create some resistance through the morning and could limit additional buyer support later in the morning. Feeder cattle trade continues to focus closely on the live cattle market during early trade as well as the direction of the corn complex. Cash lean index for 3/30 is $132.77, down 56. Open interest Friday added 30 position (58,693).

LEAN HOGS:

Opening call: Steady to 30 cents lower. Light pressure is slowly stepping back into the market as traders have once again moved back to the market with front month April contracts trading steady early Monday morning while other nearby contracts holding 5 to 25 cent losses. The concern that additional narrow losses may continue to develop in cash markets through early April has continued to erode market pressure through early trade and left many traders on the sidelines during the early minutes of the market. Cash bids are expected to be seen steady to $1 per cwt lower with most bids steady to weak. Open interest Friday added 1,245 positions (203,449). Spot month April fell 678 positions (18,024) and June gained 778 positions (79,755). Cash lean index for 3/30 is $68.30, down $0.54. DTN projected slaughter for Monday is 440,000 head.

Rick Kment can be reached at rick.kment@dtn.com

(SK)

Copyright 2017 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.