DTN Before The Bell-Livestock

GENERAL COMMENTS

Livestock futures are trading mixed to mostly lower early Monday morning as cattle futures try to find a sense of stability, although it appears that follow-through market weakness may continue to develop early in the week. Moderate trade ranges in hog futures are eroding late-week gains based on concern that strong buyer support may not be sustained. Corn futures are lower in light trade. Stock market futures are higher. Dow Jones is 26 points higher while Nasdaq is up 13 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Open: Steady to 20 cents lower.

Monday morning trade is light in most contract months with traders holding steady values in the nearby contracts. The rest of the market seems to be able to maintain narrow losses despite the overall lack of support seen in feeder cattle markets. Trade is likely to remain sluggish through most of the session, although there will be increased focus on beef values Monday. Cash cattle activity remains quiet early in the week with bids and asking prices likely not to be active until well into the week. Early showlist distribution and inventory-taking is expected to be the main order of business as traders try to focus on longer-term market potential. Open interest Friday liquidated 4,041 positions (345,578). Spot December lost 995 positions (12,264) and February contracts fell 2,005 positions (138,755). DTN projected slaughter for Monday is 118,000 head.

FEEDER CATTLE:

Open: Mixed.

Trading ranges are narrow early Monday morning with traders try to cover short positions following the bearish moves seen late in the week. Strong support will likely be hard to find through most of the session. Traders are looking for additional outside market factors that could help to draw some stability back into the complex. Cash lean index for Dec. 7 is listed at $154.40, down 0.61. Open interest Friday liquidated 512 positions (54,999).

LEAN HOGS:

Open: Mixed.

Early trade Monday started out choppy in lean hog futures as traders focused on prices 40 cents lower to 25 cents per cwt higher in in initial trade. The overall focus of increased market support through the front-month December contracts has been at a contrast to moderate selling pressure in other nearby contracts. This could leave the entire market generally weak through most of the day and could also add to the softness during the end of the year. Cash bids are steady to $1 per cwt lower. Most bids remain steady. Open interest Friday fell 3,339 positions (245,868). Spot-month December slipped 1,255 positions (13,552) and February lost 2,247 positions (98,159). Cash lean index for Dec. 7 is $65.48, up 0.18. DTN projected slaughter for Monday is 465,000 head.

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

(BAS)

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