DTN Closing Livestock Comment 09/16 15:35

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 09/16 15:35 Late-Week Cattle Rally Fueled by Higher Cash Sales Cattle futures closed sharply higher, jazzed by short covering, technical buying, and greater packer spending in feedlot country. Lean hog futures also settled on a firm basis thanks to late week profit taking and spillover buying from the cattle complex. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Short-bought packers had to pay a price for their last-minute shopping this week, and it turned out to be a fairly expensive one. Moderate to fairly active trade vole was reported in most areas of feedlot country today. The lion's share of dressed business in the North took place at $170 (though a few pens sold as high as $171), $3-4 higher than last week's weighted average basis Nebraska. Live trading in the South took place at $110, $5 higher than the previous week. According to the closing report, the national hog base is 0.97 lower compared with the Prior Day settlement ($49.00-55.01, weighted average $53.63). Corn futures popped as much as 7 cents higher just before the weekend break, supported by profit taking in the face of bearish yield expectations. From Friday to Friday, futures saw the following changes: Oct live cattle, up 347 points; Dec live cattle, up 265 points; Sep feeder cattle, up 128 points; October feeder cattle, up 168 points; October lean hogs, off 375 points; December lean hogs, off 397 points; December corn, off 4 cents. U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, but posted weekly gains. The Dow closed 88 points lower with the Nasdaq down by 5.