DTN Before The Bell-Livestock

GENERAL COMMENTS

Firm buyer support is slowly developing early Tuesday morning as cattle traders try to bounce back from sharp losses seen Monday. The tone of the market remains stable to weak, although very light trade is expected to be seen through the end of the week. Corn futures are lower in light trade. Stock market futures are higher. Dow Jones is 134 points higher while Nasdaq is up 56 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Open: 20 to 60 cents higher. Light buyer interest is slowly developing Tuesday morning as traders try to counter the early week support. There may be some additional buyer support may trickle into the market, although the overall tone of the complex is expected to still remain weak during the rest of the week as traders focus on uncertainty in cash and wholesale beef values. Cash cattle markets are still at a standstill with bids and asking prices still undeveloped at this point. There is expected to be some additional market shifts following the direction of the futures trade, but it is expected that more activity will be seen through the day as both sides would desire to wrap up cash business before leaving for the Thanksgiving holiday. Open interest Monday liquidated 2435 positions (382,335). Spot December lost 4,231 positions (51,978) and February contracts added 430 positions (156,093). DTN projected slaughter for Tuesday is 118,000 head.

FEEDER CATTLE:

Open: Steady to 30 cents higher. Light support is slowly trickling into feeder cattle futures markets as short covering following the early week losses is the main order of business. With traders focusing on follow through pressure from the cattle on feed report early in the week, the focus may now move to market stability before the holiday break. Cash lean index for 11/15 is listed at $158.44, down 0.86. Open interest Monday lost 1,121 position (59,362).

LEAN HOGS:

Open: Mixed. Narrow price shifts are seen through the entire lean hog complex with very little additional direction expected to be seen during the trading session. The strong buyer support which developed Monday created some uncertainty through the complex although trade volume is expected to fade through the end of the week. This could allow for additional follow through buyer support to move back into the complex, although the tone of the market remains undeveloped. Cash bids are called steady to $1 lower most bids are expected steady to 50 cents lower. Open interest Monday lost 4,962 positions (251,557). Spot month December slipped 4,160 positions (39,555) and February gained 183 positions (93,160). Cash lean index for 11/16 is $65.42, down 0.55. DTN projected slaughter for Tuesday is 465,000 head. Saturday runs are expected to be near 345,000 head.

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

(BAS)

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