DTN Closing Livestock Comment 03/01 16:02

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 03/01 16:02 Meat Futures Close Slow Session With Mixed Prices The cattle complex finished mixed in the live market and generally lower in the feeder trade. Nearby lean hog issues settled moderately higher thanks to light bull-spreading and short-covering. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: It may be Super Tuesday in the world of presidential politics, but as far as cattle country is concerned "tranquilized Tuesday" seems a more fitting caption. Action was extremely quiet with just a few bids of $136 noted in parts of the South. A few showlists were priced around $140-$142 in the South and $220-plus in the North. Generally speaking, bids and asking prices remained poorly defined and will probably remain that way until Thursday or Friday. According to the closing report, the Iowa hog base is $0.96 higher compared with the Prior Day settlement ($55.00-64.75, weighted average $63.92). The corn market closed about a penny or so lower as buyers continued to struggle in finding a good reason to participate. The stock market kicked off March with their best start to a month in more than three years. The major averages closed more than 2% higher, helped by a rise in oil prices and a better-than-expected ISM manufacturing report. The Dow closed 348 points higher with the Nasdaq better by 131.