DTN Midday Livestock Comments 03/24 12:00

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 03/24 12:00 Cattle Futures Draw Support Midday Thursday Light buyer support slowly developed in the cattle market Thursday morning, pulling prices off of session lows as trader's position in front of the long holiday weekend. Moderate pressure is developing in lean hog futures as traders adjust positions in front of Friday's hogs and pigs report. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Cattle trade remains mixed in a narrow trading range as prices have moved away from sharp early losses and off of session lows with traders now starting to square positions in front of the long holiday weekend. Markets will remain closed Friday due to the Easter weekend, and will resume trade Monday. Corn prices are higher. May corn futures are 1 cent higher. Stock markets are lower in light trade. The Dow Jones is 90 point lower while Nasdaq is down 18 points. LIVE CATTLE: Live cattle futures have moved from strong early losses Thursday morning to narrow mixed trade as end of the week position taking is seen on the last trading session of the week before the long holiday weekend. Nearby contracts are holding narrow losses, but have moved well off of session lows. The ability to draw prices higher at the end of the trading session could be significant in helping to support both cash market activity and draw buyers back into the market early next week. Cash cattle markets are becoming more active with bids developing through the morning at $135 to $136 in the South and $118 in the North. There are reports of light trade seen in Nebraska at $118 through the morning, which is steady with Wednesday levels, but nearly $5 less than last week levels. For the most part, feeders are holding out for higher bids, but trade may finish by the end of the day. Beef cut-outs at midday are mixed, $0.71 higher (select) and down $0.65 per cwt (choice) with light movement of 68 total loads reported (35 loads of choice cuts, 14 loads of select cuts, 10 loads of trimmings, 9 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: Early pressure has eased through feeder cattle futures with mixed trade holding at midday. End-of-week position squaring is being seen due to short covering at the end of the week following the aggressive losses over the last few days. Narrow trading ranges have been seen through midday, which could keep trade ranges narrow through the end of the session Thursday. LEAN HOGS: Moderate pressure has developed through the morning Thursday as traders have backed away from early mixed trade as they start positioning ahead of Friday's hogs and pigs report which will be released. Markets will remain closed Friday due to the Easter weekend, leaving trade closed until Monday. This is pushing additional pressure in summer contracts with the focus on additional production over the next couple months. Nearby prices are seen 20 to 95 cents per cwt lower as trade levels remain moderate midday. Cash prices are lower on the National Direct morning cash hog report. The weighted average price fell $0.96 per cwt to $60.12 per cwt with the range from $59.01 to $62.00 per cwt on 2,535 head reported sold. Cash prices are unreported due to confidentiality on the Iowa Minnesota Direct morning cash hog report. The National Pork Plant Report reported 150 loads selling with prices down $1.17 per cwt. Lean hog index for 3/22 is at $66.89, down 0.11 with a projected two-day index of $65.67, down 0.22. Rick Kment can be reached at rick.kment@dtn.com (ES) Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.