DTN Closing Livestock Comment 10/12 16:34

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 10/12 16:34 Lean Hog Futures Extend Corrective Rally Hog futures closed with decent progress thanks to another round of short-covering and bull-spreading (or the unwinding of bear spreads). The cattle complex crashed further with triple-digit losses tied to long liquidation, technical-selling and struggle beef carcass value. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The cash cattle trade was limited to scattered sales in Kansas (i.e., $98, $4 lower) and Nebraska ($154-$155, $4-$5 lower). Given the light trade volume generated so far, it's tough to trend the market on such a light test. Having said that, country psychology was clearly on the defensive thanks to the faltering board. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.46 higher compared with the Prior Day settlement ($43.00-$48.00, weighted average $47.26). The corn market finished nearly 8 cents lower, checked by the new estimate of the ongoing harvest coming in slightly larger than expectations (i.e., 15.057 billion bushels). Equities steadied at midweek, closing narrowly mixed after the Federal Reserve's September meeting minutes affirmed previous expectations for a possible December rate hike. The Dow closed 15 points higher with the Nasdaq off 7.