DTN Midday Livestock Comments

Sharp Losses Develop Friday

Rick Kment
By  Rick Kment , DTN Analyst
(DTN photo by Russ Quinn)
GENERAL COMMENTS:

Strong triple-digit losses have quickly swept through livestock trade Friday morning. Most of the activity is based on end-of-week positioning following previous gains and very thin market trade at the end of the week. Corn prices are lower in light trade. May corn futures are 3 cents lower. Stock markets are mixed in light trade. The Dow Jones is 25 points higher while Nasdaq is down 21 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Moderate to firm pressure is seen through the live cattle complex late morning Friday. Traders have been quickly influenced by the eroding feeder cattle market. Even though volume remains extremely light in all live cattle markets, the weaker prices could add some uncertainty through early next week. Cash cattle activity remains sluggish at midday despite increased interest in bids through the morning. Bids are available in all areas with live bids seen at $120 to $122 per cwt and $193 dressed. There are reports of a small string of cattle selling at $193 per cwt dressed basis. But in general these bids are well below asking prices of $127 to $128 live and $196 and higher dressed. Boxed beef cut-outs at midday are steady to lower, $0.14 lower (select) and steady per cwt (choice) with light movement of 70 total loads reported (35 loads of choice cuts, 17 loads of select cuts, 7 loads of trimmings, 10 loads of ground beef).

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

FEEDER CATTLE:

Feeder cattle futures have turned sharply lower with all remaining 2018 contracts holding triple-digit losses. Tight trading ranges are seen Friday due to sluggish overall trade volume. This is keeping May through November futures $1.17 to $1.37 per cwt lower with limited additional direction expected through the remainder of the day. This pullback in the market is eroding previous buyer support seen earlier in the week, but most of the activity is based on lack of market volume rather than any change in fundamental or technical direction.

LEAN HOGS:

Lean hog futures have posted sharp morning losses in nearby trade as traders are quickly backing away from previous market gains. June futures are leading the complex lower with a $2.27 per cwt loss as trade volume remains sluggish at the end of the week. It is uncertain at this point if this pullback in the market will continue to draw selling pressure early next week, or if traders will continue to look at this as a position-taking opportunity before they step back into the market. Cash prices are lower on the National Direct morning cash hog report. The weighted average price is down $0.02 at $61.07 per cwt with the range from $56.00 to $61.12 on 2,466 head reported sold. Cash prices are unreported due to confidentiality on the Iowa/Minnesota Direct morning cash hog report. The National Pork Plant Report posted 192 loads selling with carcass values gained $0.53 per cwt. Lean hog index for 5/9 is at $63.73 up 0.18 with a projected two-day index of $64.06, up 0.33

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

(SK)

P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R1] D[300x250] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R2] D[300x250] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
DIM[1x3] LBL[] SEL[] IDX[] TMPL[standalone] T[]
P[R3] D[300x250] M[0x0] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Rick Kment