DTN Midday Livestock Comments 07/14 11:44

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 07/14 11:44 Strong Gains Hold Across Cattle Futures Thursday Renewed buyer support has actively moved into all cattle markets with nearby contracts holding strong triple-digit gains in both live cattle and feeder cattle markets. Hog futures remain mixed in a narrow trading range at midday as the complex remains generally directionless despite strong support in other livestock markets. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Aggressive triple-digit gains continue to be seen through live cattle and feeder cattle futures through the morning Thursday. This is helping to expand market support and potentially spark increased open interest to actively move back into the market at the end of the week. Lean hog futures remain directionless with prices hovering in a narrowly mixed range at midday. Corn prices are higher. September corn futures are 1 cent lower. Stock markets are higher in light trade. The Dow Jones is 124 points higher while Nasdaq is up 26 points. LIVE CATTLE: Additional strong support is once again developing through the live cattle futures with triple digit gains holding in all nearby contracts. Although prices have eroded moderately from session highs seen early in the morning, the gains of $1.50 to $1.70 per cwt seen at midday continue to draw additional support back into the previously oversold complex. The lack of fundamental market changes at this point has not hindered buyer support yet, but traders continue to closely focus on the direction of beef values and potential cash market activities through the end of the week. Cash cattle activity remains dead Thursday morning with not even bids developing during the morning. The strong surge in futures trade should add to feedlot managers resolve, but may not spark any additional interest from packers until sometime Friday. Asking prices remain at $120 to $122 per cwt live basis in the South and $190 and higher dressed basis in the North. Beef cut-outs at midday are mixed $1.55 lower (select) and up $0.27 per cwt (choice) with moderate movement of 82 total loads reported (35 loads of choice cuts, 24 loads of select cuts, 3 loads of trimmings, 18 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: Triple-digit gains continue to be seen through the cattle complex Thursday morning. Even though grain markets have posted another strong shift higher during the morning, feeder cattle traders have quickly moved sights off of the grain market and continue to focus on renewed market support in the live cattle complex. Even though market fundamentals have not changed, traders continue to focus on the technical market shift with active buying developing through the last half of the week. It is uncertain if this will be able to spark widespread open interest growth or not, but the front-month futures have bounced nearly $4 per cwt over lows set earlier in the week. LEAN HOGS: Despite the aggressive buyer support seen in cattle trade, lean hog futures remain mixed in a narrow range through the morning. Front month July contracts continue to post gains of 30 cents per cwt, while the rest of the complex is mixed from 10 cents lower to 15 cents higher at midday. The lack of direction is not surprising given the inability for traders to move the market significantly over the last couple of trading sessions. Lack of support in pork values once again limits the expectations of strong buyer support moving into futures trade in the near future. Cash prices are lower on the National Direct morning cash hog report. The weighted average price fell $1.40 per cwt to $73.79 per cwt with the range from $73.50 to $74.00 per cwt on 3,300 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 129 loads selling with prices sliding $2.34 per cwt. Lean hog index for 7/12 is at $81.37, down 0.60 with a projected two-day index of $81.00 down 0.37. Rick Kment can be reached at rick.kment@dtn.com (CZ) Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.