DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 05/25 06:05

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 05/25 06:05 Livestock Futures Staged for Mixed Opening at Midweek Expect the cattle complex to open on a mixed basis linked to spillover selling on one hand and midweek short-covering on the other. Lean hog futures should also begin with uneven price action thanks to light short-covering and profit-taking. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady-$2 LR Futures: Mixed Live Equiv $147.63 - .53* Hogs: Steady Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv $ 88.42 - .92** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Cattle buying interest should slow start and become better defined Wednesday. Look for initial bids to surface around $195 to $197 in the North and $125 in the South. Midweek asking prices should be around $205 plus in the North and $130 plus in the South. While some packers are certainly shorter bought than they were a week ago, we don't expect significant trade volume to develop before Thursday or Friday. Live and feeder contracts seem set to open Wednesday on a mixed basis thanks to a slow combination of follow-through buying and pre-cash short-covering.