DTN Closing Livestock Comment 02/18 16:00
18 Feb 2016
DTN Closing Livestock Comment 02/18 16:00 Live Cattle Futures Extend Rally With Solid Gains The cattle complex settled impressive higher in the live trade and mixed in the feeder market. Lean hog futures also closed on a mixed basis with nearbys losing ground on deferreds. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Besides a scattering of token bids in parts of the North (i.e., $206-$208), cattle buyers stuck with a strategy of indifference. Yet on the other side of the isle, feedlot asking prices continued to firm (i.e., $138-plus on the South, around $215 in the North), nourished by further gains in nearby live futures. According to the closing report, the Iowa hog base is $0.70 lower compared with the Prior Day settlement ($58.00-$65.00, weighted average $64.01). The corn market finished generally 2 cents lower, pressured by ample global supplies and U.S. export worries. U.S. stocks closed lower, stabilizing after their largest three-day gain since August. The Dow closed 46 points lower with the Nasdaq off 40.