DTN Before The Bell-Livestock

GENERAL COMMENTS

Livestock futures are lightly traded early Monday morning with mixed trade holding early as traders assess additional fundamental market direction. Narrow market shifts are seen in the cattle trade with very little activity likely to be seen in the first hour of trade. Corn markets are trading lower in light trade activity. The stock market is trading higher in light early trade. Dow Jones is 63 points higher while Nasdaq is up 21 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Open: Mixed. Light volume is seen through the live cattle futures complex in the early morning trade with prices hovering through most contracts. October futures are leading the market lower, with a 30 cent loss, while the rest of the complex is confined in a range of 10 cents per cwt on either side of unchanged. Additional moves in both outside markets and feeder cattle trade will likely draw additional volume back into the market through the rest of the morning. Cash cattle markets are expected to remain quiet with show list distribution and inventory taking the main order of business. Bids and asking prices are not expected to be seen through the day Monday. Open interest Friday fell 352 positions (331,355). Spot October lost 1,393 positions (9,902) and December contracts slipped 191 positions (150,251). DTN projected slaughter for Monday is 117,000 head.

FEEDER CATTLE:

Open: Steady to 15 cents lower. Light pressure is slowly trickling into the feeder cattle futures complex early Monday morning. The initial push lower has been unable to bring significant seller activity which may draw buyer activity and additional volume back into the complex later through the morning. But for now, prices are hovering in a narrow range with traders unwilling to break away from any technical moves seen previously over the last couple of trading sessions. Cash lean index for 10/12 is $155.23, up 0.09. Open interest Friday added 727 position (60,439).

LEAN HOGS:

Open: Mixed. Light to moderate buyer support has moved into nearby lean hog futures trade as December contracts have taken over as spot month futures contracts. There continues to be very little direction across all contracts with narrow trading ranges separating price moves as narrow gains in nearby contracts are offset by deferred pressure. Cash bids are called steady to $1 per cwt higher with most bids expected to be 50 cents to $1 higher. Open interest Friday added 1,439 positions (255,191). Spot month October slipped 331 positions (11,345) and December fell 75 positions (119,060). Cash lean index for 10/12 is $59.51, up 0.37. DTN projected slaughter for Monday is 460,000 head.

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

(SK)

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