DTN Midday Livestock Comments

GENERAL COMMENTS:

The distribution of new showlists has taken up most of the marketing work in feedlot country this morning. Ready numbers are generally smaller, especially in Nebraska and Texas. The National dressed hog base at midday is quoted 0.26 lower ($52.00-57.69), with a weighted average of $57.50. Corn futures are a penny plus higher at midday thanks to light buying interest. The stock market is mixed near the top of the noon hour with some investor nervous about rising interest rates. The Dow is currently off 10 with the Nasdaq up 3.

LIVE CATTLE:

Live cattle futures are 25 to 122 poins higher at midday with the first three contracts sporting triple digit gains. With spot April moving over 120, it would appear that traders are more impressed with the strength of recent feedlot cash than the bearish supply implications of the April 1 on feed repot unveiled last Friday. Heavily discounted summer contracts are trying to gain some ground on spot April and country cash, but progress in that regard remains very modest. Beef cut-outs are sharply at midday, up $1.70 (select, $201.83) to $2.71 (choice, $214.69) with light box movement (29 loads of choice cuts, 12 loads of select cuts, zero loads of trimmings, 10 loads of coarse grinds).

FEEDER CATTLE:

Feeder buyers have paper the wall of this market at midday with wall-to-wall triple-digit gains. Rising deferred lice cattle targets are obviously helpful in this regard. On an estimated run of 5,200 head (down from 8,010 last week and 9,053 in 2917), Oklahoma City has sold feeder cattle and calves with a firm undertone in the early rounds with demand described as moderate to good. However, no definite trends are evident as of this writing.

LEAN HOGS:

Lean hog issues are mostly 57 to 105 lower with some worried that April rally in the cash market is running out of gas. Note that the cash index still remains a good $1 under spot May. Carcass value is modestly lower at midday with firm fresh cuts essentially overshadowed by softer demand for ribs and hams. Pork cut-out: $67.85, off 0.06. CME cash lean index for 04/19: 56.80, up 0.83 (DTN Projected lean index for 04/20: 57.80, up 1.00).

John A. Harrington john.harrington@dtn.com

(SK)

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