DTN Before The Bell-Livestock

Light Pressure Seen Wednesday

Rick Kment
By  Rick Kment , DTN Analyst
(DTN photo by Nick Scalise)
GENERAL COMMENTS

Firm pressure is seen early Wednesday morning with little to no direction developing in cash or meat markets early in the week and traders are quickly backing away from strong early week triple-digit gains. Corn prices are lower in light trade. Stock markets are lower, Dow Jones is 32 points lower while Nasdaq is down 91 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Open: 20 to 50 cents lower. Light activity is seen in live cattle futures following the strong triple-digit gains Tuesday. This may allow for some additional stability once more volume steps into the complex, but traders focus on position taking during early September. Cash cattle activity remains quiet with bids and asking prices still hard to find. It is expected that trade will be delayed until Thursday or Friday. Open interest Tuesday lost 838 positions (307,244). Spot-month October contracts lost 3,809 positions (115,410) and October contracts added 1,809 positions (78,755). DTN projected slaughter for Wednesday is 120,000 head.

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FEEDER CATTLE:

Open: 10 to 50 cents lower. Pressure through the rest of the livestock market is having a sizable impact on the overall moves in feeder cattle. This could add increased pressure through the morning as traders look for additional direction from both livestock trade and outside markets. Cash index for 8/30 is listed at $149.98, down 0.11. Open interest Tuesday lost 672 positions (49,445).

LEAN HOGS:

Open: 50 cents to $1.50 lower. Firm pressure is seen in lean hog futures with increased activity pulling back from early week support. The overall move lower may add some additional volatility to the entire complex as traders still find it hard to bring strong underlying support to market fundamentals. Trade is expected to hover in a moderate range through most of the morning. Cash hog trade Wednesday is expected steady to $1 lower. Most bids are steady. Open interest Tuesday added 6,615 positions (233,701). Spot month October gained 1,075 positions (94,070) and December added 2,202 positions (64,691). Cash lean index for 8/30 is $45.63 down 0.22. DTN projected slaughter for Wednesday is at 469,000 head. Saturday runs are expected at 345,000 head.

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

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Rick Kment