DTN Closing Livestock Comments

GENERAL COMMENTS

Early week activity in feedlot country was pretty much limited to the distribution of new showlists. The fed offering appears to be generally larger with only Nebraska indicating more ready steers and heifers for sell. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.49 higher ($82-$88.50, weighted average $86.46). Corn futures finished generally 7 cents higher, boosted by spillover support from beans and a lack of selling interest. The stock market closed mixed with the Dow up 129 points and the Nasdaq down by 30.

LIVE CATTLE

Live issues closed on a mixed basis with settlements ranging from 65 higher to 55 lower. The front end of the market was more defensive than the back end. Yet action in general was quite sluggish and possibly not suggestive of much in terms of longer trends. Beef cut-outs: sharply lower, off $0.97 (select, $207.45) to $1.84 (choice, $222.89) with light-to-moderate demand and heavy offerings (57 loads of choice cuts, 48 loads of select cuts, 5 loads of trimmings, 16 loads of ground beef).

WEDNESDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL:

Steady to $2 lower. With such a delayed start to the trading week, we could quickly see well-defined bids and asking prices when cash traders return from the holiday at midweek.

FEEDER CATTLE

Feeder issues settled 85 to 182 lower, pressured by profit-taking, long liquidation and the bearish implications of rising corn prices. CME cash feeder index: 06/30: $147.99, off $1.24.

LEAN HOGS

Lean hog futures quickly re-tapped into the bullish momentum evident immediately before and after the June 1 USDA Hogs and Pigs report released last Thursday. Contracts closed 17 to 110 higher with October through December attracting the most buying interest. August, December and February scored new contract highs. Since pre-holiday volume was extremely light, it's difficult to assess the technical significance of Monday's action. The carcass value moved substantially higher with all primals making significant contributions. Pork cut-out: $104.32, up $1.40. CME cash lean index for 06/29: $91.72, up $0.06 (DTN Projected lean index for 06/30: $91.71, off $0.01).

WEDNESDAY'S CASH HOG CALL

Steady to $1 higher. Look for hog buyers to return Wednesday morning with steady/firm bids.

For more from John, see http://www.feelofthemarket.com/…

(CZ)

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