DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 06/15 06:08

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 06/15 06:08 Live and Feeders Staged to Open With a Firm Undertone The cattle complex is set to open moderately higher at midweek, supported by residual buying interest and short-covering. Lean hog issues are likely to begin with mixed prices tied to further bull-spreading activity. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady-$2 LR Futures: 50-100 HR Live Equiv $149.30 + .82* Hogs: Steady-$1 HR Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv $ 93.19 + .54** * 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 buyers could start to post a few preliminary bids Wednesday, but probably not anything tempting enough to significantly excite selling interest. Our guess is that asking prices will start out around $130 in the South and $210 in the North. Packers are relatively short bought and well margined. On the other hand, the deeply discounted board may make it difficult for feedlot managers to ignore extraordinary basis strength. Meaningful trade volume will likely be delayed until Thursday or Friday. Live and feeder futures seem likely to open moderately higher, supported by follow-through buying and pre-cash profit-taking.