DTN Midday Livestock Comments          01/24 12:03

   Livestock Contracts Head Lower 

   The lean hog complex may have had a phenomenal movement earlier in the week 
but now as the week nears the week's end, all three sectors are trading lower.  

By ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

General Comments

   Friday usually adds a little positivity to the complex before the week ends 
but as noon hour approaches all three sectors are trading lower. There seems to 
be a little interest building in nearby live cattle contracts but not enough 
that will probably amount to anything before the day closes. March corn is down 
4 1/2 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is down $0.40. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average is down 161.75 points and NASDAQ is down 68.95 points. 

   LIVE CATTLE 

   It's a quiet and an unusual Friday for the live cattle contracts as cash 
cattle traded early and the country is through selling for the most part. 
Seeing that cash cattle trade is already established there's little hope that 
the interest developing in the spot live cattle contract will amount to much of 
anything. February live cattle are up $0.15 at $124.82, April live cattle 
contracts are down $0.05 at $124.12 and June live cattle are down $0.40 at 
$115.92. 

   Boxed beef cutouts are lower: choice down $0.54 ($214.78) and select down 
$0.76 ($210.44) with a movement of 56 loads (38.97 loads of choice, 6.53 loads 
of select, 5.57 loads of trim and 4.79 loads of ground beef). 

   FEEDER CATTLE 

   As calves continue to trot across the scales at sale barns, the sheer volume 
of calves selling is pressuring parts of the market and making it hard for the 
board to find any support while the live cattle contracts have been down all 
week as well. January feeders are down $0.52 at $142.25, March feeders are down 
$0.72 at $139.80 and April feeders are down $0.85 at $142.62. 

   LEAN HOGS 

   The lean hog rally may be diving lower on the board, but I think it's 
important to note that cash prices didn't weaken Friday morning, indicating 
that packers are still aggressively on the hunt for more hogs and willing to 
pay even higher prices. February lean hogs are down $1.47 at $67.02, April lean 
hogs are down $2.17 at $73.17 and May lean hogs are down $2.57 at $79.20. 

   The projected lean hog index for 1/23/2020 is up $0.24 at $61.53, and the 
actual for 1/22/2020 came up $0.27 at $61.29. Hog prices on the National Direct 
Morning Hog Report are higher, up $0.62 with a weighted average of $52.76, 
ranging from $47.00 to $55.00 on 6,308 head sold and a five-day rolling average 
of $52.14. Pork cutouts total 119.17 loads with 104.96 loads of pork cuts and 
14.21 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.24, $77.60. 

   ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com 


(CZ)

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