DTN Closing Livestock Comments

GENERAL COMMENTS

Light cattle trading slowly surfaced in parts on the North with dressed sales reported from $208 to $210, $3 to $5 lower than last week's weighted average basis Nebraska. Some live deals in the area were marked at $132 to $132.50, $2 to $2.50 lower. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $1.42 higher ($65.00-73.00, weighted average $71.73). Corn futures settled several cents lower as traders remain essentially stuck in a sideways price range. The stock market firms further with the Dow closing 70 points higher and the Nasdaq improves by 42.

LIVE CATTLE

Surging back toward the upper end of its lateral price range, live contracts surged 100 to 180 higher. Thursday's rally appeared to be sparked by bull-spreading, short-covering, and ideas of greater cash stability following the Memorial Day break. Beef cut-outs: mixed, up .03 (choice, $246.11) to off .62 (select, $218.98) with light to moderate demand and moderate offerings (57 loads of choice cuts, 35 loads of select cuts, 8 loads of trimmings, 10 loads of coarse grinds).

FRIDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL:

Steady/weak with Wednesday. Trade volume totals still look short for the week, especially in the North. Yet it's certainly possible that both sides are done for the week.

FEEDER CATTLE

With the exception of expiring spot May (i.e., off 47), feeder contracts followed the bullish lead of their live counterparts by closing 72 to 245 higher. New-spot August will take the point on Friday nearly $8 above the cash index. CME cash feeder index: 05/24: 143.09, off .31.

LEAN HOGS

Lean hog contracts recaptured their bullish focus Thursday and closed with solid progress. Most issues settled 30 to 75 points higher with June and August setting new contract higher. Clearly, summer bulls are not yet ready to throw in the towel regarding the improvement of supply and demand fundamentals over the next 30 to 60 days. Carcass value closed moderately higher, essentially taking back what it surrendered on Wednesday. Pork cut-out: $90.30, up .44. CME cash lean index for 05/23: 76.07, up 1.13 (DTN Projected lean index for 05/24: 76.25, up .18).

FRIDAY'S CASH HOG CALL

Steady. Late-week business in hog country should be both steady and slow.

John A. Harrington can be reached at john.harrington@dtn.com

(CZ)

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