DTN Midday Livestock Comments          08/14 12:11

   Mixed Trade Limits Livestock Volume

   Narrow trading ranges have held in most livestock contracts Tuesday morning. 
This may keep market interest sluggish through most of the session.

By Rick Kment
DTN Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS: 

   Livestock markets are mixed in a narrow trading range at midday after giving 
back most of the early morning market shifts. Trade volume is sluggish at best, 
which is allowing for light buyer activity to move back into the complex. Corn 
markets are higher in light trade activity. September corn futures are 5 cents 
higher. Stock markets are higher in light trade. The Dow Jones is 115 points 
higher, while Nasdaq is up 51 points.

   LIVE CATTLE:

   Narrow gains have slowly trickled into most live cattle trade. This is 
helping to spark some additional underlying support across the complex. Nearby 
futures are trading 10 to 40 cents per cwt higher with very limited overall 
activity seen in deferred markets. Sluggish activity is likely to be seen 
through the end of the session with prices hovering in the current trading 
range. Cash cattle interest remains sluggish at best with asking prices and 
bids still generally unavailable. The back-and-forth shift in futures trade has 
limited interest on both sides and will likely push cash sales toward the end 
of the week. Boxed beef cut-outs at midday are higher, up $1.87 (select) to up 
$1.12 per cwt (choice) with light movement of 52 total loads reported (21 loads 
of choice cuts, 14 loads of select cuts, 3 loads of trimmings, 14 loads of 
ground beef).

   FEEDER CATTLE:

   Limited activity is seen through feeder cattle futures with very limited 
interest seen across the complex. This may add some additional uncertainty to 
the complex as traders are looking for the most pressure in deferred contracts. 
These deferred markets are holding losses of 40 to 60 cents per cwt as traders 
are focusing not only on beef demand, but also outside market shifts.

   LEAN HOGS:

   Narrow gains have held in most lean hog futures at midday, although the 
inability to hang onto strong early gains of $1 per cwt through nearby 
contracts continues to erode the overall confidence of buyers at this point. 
But traders continue to look at a firming market trend although cash markets 
are still under strong pressure. Cash prices are lower on the National Direct 
morning cash hog report. The weighted average price is down $1.10 at $42.63 per 
cwt with the range from $42.00 to $43.50 on 4,560 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 a total of 202 
loads selling with cutout values falling 0.74 per cwt at $70.27 per cwt in the 
morning report. Lean hog index for 8/10 is at $58.81 down 1.76 with a projected 
two-day index of $56.81, down 1.47.

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


(SK)

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