DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 09/06 06:04

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 09/06 06:04 Livestock Futures Set for Mixed, Post-Holiday Opening Cautious cattle traders seem likely to return from the long weekend with mixed ideas, probably a slow combination of follow-through selling and short-covering. Similarly, lean hog paper should open with uneven prices, pausing to get a handle of early-month cash potential. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady-$2 LR Futures: Mixed Live Equiv $130.45 -$2.22* Hogs: Steady-$1 LR Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv $ 82.89 - .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 producers and traders left market psychology in an ugly mess when they adjourned for the Labor Day break. Nearly all are hoping to return Tuesday to calmer waters, but general uncertainty remains thick enough to cut with a knife. Assuming the board demonstrated greater stability as we roll into the first full week of September, feedlot country should be very quiet with packers limiting efforts to the collection of new showlists. We expect the new offering to be near steady with last week. Furthermore, feedlot managers will be in no hurry to price cattle, content to rock back and hopefully wait for some healing at the CME. Live and feeder futures should open no worse than mixed with specs and commercials torn between bearish momentum and technical trouble on one hand, and oversold charts and large cash premiums on the other.