DTN Midday Livestock Comments          03/30 12:01

   Unenthusiastic Monday 

   Livestock contracts head lower as Monday seems to be unable to muster up 
support. 

By ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

General Comments

   As contracts near the noon hour the entire livestock complex trades lower 
without a whole lot energy circulating throughout the market. Traders seem 
leery of jumping into a marketplace without a sure consensus of where prices 
are headed and find it safer to sit out until a clear direction is established. 
May corn is down 5 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is up $1.40. The Dow 
Jones Industrial Average is up 478.65 points and NASDAQ is up 208.09 points. 

   LIVE CATTLE 

   Live cattle contracts have stuck with the rest of the complex and have 
traded mostly uneventfully Monday morning. Live cattle contracts flirted with 
the idea of trading higher midmorning but quickly dropped back to lower levels 
and continue to trade there heading into the noon hour. April live cattle are 
down $1.10 at $99.85, June live cattle are down $1.15 at $88.27 and August live 
cattle are down $1.22 at $89.22. Cash cattle trade has yet to develop with both 
feeders and packers very quiet Monday morning. New showlists appear to be 
mixed, higher in Texas, but lower in Kansas and Nebraska/Colorado.

   Boxed beef cutouts are lower: choice down $1.71 ($251.13) and select down 
$3.86 ($238.52) with a movement of 113 loads (68.75 loads of choice, 11.12 
loads of select, 26.52 loads of trim and 6.61 loads of ground beef). 

   FEEDER CATTLE 

   Feeder cattle contracts started the day out lower, contemplated trading 
higher with the live cattle contracts but then quickly sank lower as pressure 
grew. April live cattle are down $1.70 at $118.90, May feeders are down $1.42 
at $119.50 and August feeders are down $1.60 at $125.50. Sale barns try to 
navigate through these times like everyone else; trying to balance the worry of 
will the week be lower, or will producers trudge through and market their 
calves regardless? 

   LEAN HOGS

   The lean hog market is taking the biggest hit to Monday's arrival as 
contracts fall $1.10 to $3.65 lower. April lean hogs are down $3.22 at $5.20, 
June lean hogs are down $4.10 at $60.20 and July lean hogs are down $3.00 at 
$63.77. Given the number of hogs that sold Monday morning, it's disappointing 
that the cash market was able to at least maintain steady prices if not gain a 
little ground with demand being as lofty as it is. 

   The projected lean hog index for 3/27/2020 is down $0.93 at $65.53, and the 
actual for 3/26/2020 is up $0.29 at $66.46. Hog prices are lower on the 
National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.13 with a weighted average of 
$58.71 ranging from $52.00 to $62.50 on 11.226 head sold and a five-day rolling 
average of $58.41. Pork cutouts total 244.70 loads with 222.37 loads of pork 
cuts and 22.33 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.46, $72.33. 

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


(CZ)

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