DTN Before The Bell-Livestock

Lightly Mixed Trade Monday

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

Livestock trade remains mixed in limited trade volume early Monday morning. Firm gains in nearby lean hog futures are helping to hold additional underlying support through the complex despite uncertainty in the rest of the complex. Corn markets are higher in light early trade. Stock markets are mixed, Dow Jones is 95 points higher while Nasdaq is up 45 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

Open: Steady to 30 cents lower. Limited activity is seen through the live cattle complex with overall price moves steady to 10 cents lower in most contracts months early Monday. Traders focus on the firmness in cash cattle trade last week, which is creating some potential for additional market growth through the entire complex. This may add some additional underlying activity through the rest of the complex later in the session. Cash cattle markets are undeveloped following the trade that developed late Friday last week. Inventory taking and show list distribution is expected to be the main focus, but the firm price moves last week will keep traders aggressively pricing cattle when asking prices are seen later in the week. Open interest Friday gained 3,229 positions (355,061). Spot month December contracts lost 784 positions (121,957) and December contracts added 1,213 positions (93,525). DTN projected slaughter for Monday is 117,000 head.

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FEEDER CATTLE:

Open: Steady to 50 cents lower. Moderate pressure is seen in feeder cattle trade once again as traders continue to show very limited support during early November. The complex continues to hold a sidways trading pattern through late-summer and fall months. But the overall focus of trade seems to be limited given very light activity through the entire complex. Losses are expected to be tempered through the day by overall lack of activity as well as sluggish moves in live cattle trade. Cash index for 11/01 is listed at $153.89, down 0.27. Open interest Friday gained 676 positions (49,362).

LEAN HOGS:

Open: Mixed. Early week trade is seen sluggish in all livestock markets with hog futures holding prices mixed form 20 cents lower to 20 cents higher in the early minutes of trade. The focus on fundamental market stability is helping to bring some additional support to nearby contracts Monday morning. Cash hog trade Monday is expected steady to $1 lower. Most bids are steady. Open interest fell 627 positions (222,946). Spot month December slipped 3,699 positions (83,413) and February added 1,185 positions (49,139). Cash lean index for 11/1 is $64.12 up 0.05. DTN projected slaughter for Monday is at 475,000 head.

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

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Rick Kment