DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 07/15 06:03

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 07/15 06:03 Cash Cattle Futures Set to Open With Mixed Prices Live and feeder futures seem ripe to open the late-week trade on a mixed basis thanks to a combination of follow-through buying and pre-cash profit-taking. At the same time, lean hog contracts should also open with uneven price action in slow volume. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady-$2 LR Futures: Mixed Live Equiv $137.49 - .83* Hogs: Steady-$1 LR Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv $ 95.61 - .73** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Even though cattle buyers didn't work very hard last week, they have somehow held their breath long enough to avoid further business until sometime Friday. Our guess is that most accounts are extremely short bought and will soon have to make business happen (though we've been saying that all week). Look for opening bids around $116 to $117 in the South and $188/$116 in the North. Encouraged a bit by the board's recent rally, feedlot managers should at least initially dig in with higher asking prices of $120 to $122 in the South and $190 to $192 in the North. Live and feeder issues seem likely to open mixed tied to both follow-through buying and late-week profit-taking.