DTN Midday Livestock Comments 08/18 11:45

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 08/18 11:45 Livestock Futures Back Away From Early Gains Moderate losses are seen through the entire livestock complex late Thursday morning as initial buyer support has been quickly washed out of the market, creating uncertainty and additional liquidation toward the end of the week. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Price pressure is seen through all livestock futures Thursday morning with traders unwilling to aggressively return to market. Hog futures continued their trend of offsetting the previous day's market moves with moderate-to-firm losses seen Thursday. Cattle futures lack enthusiasm and are holding moderate losses midday. Corn prices are lower at midday. September corn futures are 2.75 cents lower. Stock markets are lower. The Dow Jones is 31 points lower while Nasdaq is down 1 point. LIVE CATTLE: Light-to-moderate losses have replaced early morning support through the live cattle futures complex. Front-month August futures are holding losses of 15 cents per cwt, although the rest of the market remains 30 to 50 cents lower. The lack of consistency and support in both cash markets and beef values late in the week is keeping traders unwilling to step back to the market and sparking underlying pressure, which may continue over the next several weeks. Cash cattle activity is starting to develop with live bids seen in both North and the South ranging from $116 to $118 per cwt. Some additional trade is developing in both the North and South with Southern prices seen at $118 live basis, and prices in the North at $117.75 live basis. These prices would be weak to $1 per cwt lower from last week's level, which may turn out to be the weekly price range. Asking price remain at $120 to $122 in the South and $190 to $192 in the North. Beef cut-outs at midday are mixed $1.55 higher (select) and down $0.83 per cwt (choice) with light movement of 72 total loads reported (36 loads of choice cuts, 15 loads of select cuts, 10 loads of trimmings, 11 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: Moderate losses are holding in feeder cattle futures with the August contracts posting a 42-cent loss at midday. The consistency across the complex is pointing to still light trade volume as traders continue to focus on the inability to draw volume back into the market as well as concerns that traders allow this market to slide lower through the end of the month. LEAN HOGS: Early support through the futures complex quickly eroded as additional selling activity stepped into the market. Traders are once again following the up-and-down price shifts seen through the entire week, with nearby contracts holding 70- to 90-cent losses. At this point, if traders can keep losses from moving into the triple digits before the end of the session, it may be considered a victory. But the cycle of up-and-down prices every day is expected to add even more pressure to the market over the next several weeks. Cash prices are lower on the National Direct morning cash hog report. The weighted average price fell $1.94 per cwt to $61.37 per cwt with the range from $55.00 to $63.50 per cwt on 3,076 head reported sold. Cash prices are lower on the Iowa Minnesota Direct morning cash hog report. Cash prices are lower on the National Direct morning cash hog report. The weighted average price fell $0.99 per cwt to $63.09 per cwt with the range from $62.25 to $63.50 per cwt on 529 head reported sold. The National Pork Plant Report reported 152 loads selling with prices falling $1.46 per cwt. Lean hog index for 8/16 is at $67.17, up $0.25, with a projected two-day index of $67.32, up $0.15. Rick Kment can be reached at rick.kment@dtn.com (CZ) Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.