DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 01/04 06:17

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 01/04 06:17 Cattle Futures Set to Kick-Off 2016 With Firm Opening Live and feeder cattle contracts should open Monday morning with moderately higher prices, supported by follow-through buying and further signs of strength in the wholesale beef market. Lean hog futures seem likely to begin the new year with mixed prices as traders take preliminary readings of new year fundamentals. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Cash Higher Futures 10-30 HR Live Equiv $142.57 + $2.41* Hogs: Cash Steady Futures Mixed Lean Equiv $ 72.91 + $1.08** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Feedlot managers should be eager to ring in 2016 with a good deal of optimism, betting that the exploding price trend of the last fortnight will continue to show good legs in the weeks ahead. Having said that, activity in cattle country Monday will be limited to the distribution of new showlists. We expected the fed offering to be steady to somewhat smaller than last week. While sellers will want to take an initial measurement of board strength before pricing cattle, our guess is that initial asking prices will be around $138 to $140 in the South and $215 to $220 in the North. Look for live and feeder futures to open moderately higher, girded by bullish momentum and real potential for further cash progress.