DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 10/09 06:06

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 10/09 06:06 Meat Futures Staged for Mixed Opening Look for the cattle complex to open mixed tied to pre-cash positioning. Lean hog futures are also likely to open with uneven prices thinks to residual buying and late-week profit-taking. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Higher Futures: mixed Live Equiv $138.30 + 0.09* Hogs: Steady to $1 HR Futures: mixed Lean Equiv $ 93.20 + $1.89** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: The cash cattle trade will be higher sometime Friday, pulling out of the ugly nosedive that has persisted since Labor Day. As far as we can tell, the only real question is: How much higher? Understandably, asking prices will be tied to the premium of spot October. That means live steers and heifers should be priced around $130 or better (i.e., $205-plus dressed). Packers seem to be quite short-bought, yet still wary about early fall beef demand. Live and feeder futures are set to open on a mixed basis thanks to a combination of follow-through buying and pre-cash profit-taking.