DTN Before The Bell-Livestock

GENERAL COMMENTS

Livestock futures remain lightly traded in narrow ranges with overall firm support redeveloping in cattle markets. The lean hog futures opened slightly higher, but there is starting to be some slight position taking ahead of the hogs and pigs report released Thursday afternoon. Corn markets are trading lower in light trade activity. The stock market is trading lower in light early trade. Dow Jones is 18 points lower while Nasdaq is down 16 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Opening call: Mixed. Follow-through buyer interest is slowly but steadily stepping into the live cattle complex with traders focusing more on the aggressive market rally Wednesday at this point than any additional shift in market moves seen through the end of the week. The downward pressure seen early in the week is still fresh in most trader's memories, and likely to limit additional market shifts within early trade. Cash cattle remains quiet with bids undeveloped early Thursday morning. Asking prices remain at $110 to $112 in the South and $172 to $174 in the North. It is possible that cash trade will be delayed until sometime Friday. Open interest Wednesday fell 464 positions (337,507). Spot October lost 3,898 positions (45,690) and December contracts added 2,328 positions (144,592). DTN projected slaughter for Thursday is 118,000 head.

FEEDER CATTLE:

Opening call: Steady to 50 cents higher. Light follow-up buyer support is slowly stepping into the feeder cattle complex with traders reacting to the aggressive triple-digit rally seen midweek. With traders essentially shaking off early week pressure, the overall tone of the market remains focused on building additional commercial support into the complex. Despite the wide price spreads seen in live cattle markets, the overall market spread in feeder cattle remains narrow. Cash lean index for 9/26 is $152.43, up 0.11. Open interest Wednesday gained 896 position (60,661).

LEAN HOGS:

Opening call: Steady to 50 cents higher. Firm gains have slowly developed in lean hog futures trade Thursday morning with traders cautiously looking for additional direction from the quarterly hogs and pigs report which will be released Thursday afternoon. This is allowing for the most aggressive buyer support to develop in October futures, while most other nearby contracts have been limited to single-digit gains in early trade. Cash bids are steady to $1 lower with most bids expected 50 cents $1 lower. Open interest Wednesday fell 1,709 positions (261,123). Spot month October slipped 3,659 positions (37,672) and December added 1,608 positions (118,332). Cash lean index for 9/26 is $56.25, down 0.73. DTN projected slaughter for Thursday is 460,000 head. Procurement Saturday is expected at 242,000 head.

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

(SK)

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