DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 11/23 07:02

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 11/23 07:02 Meat Futures Staged for Slow, Mixed Opening Slowly positioning ahead of pre-holiday cash, cattle futures are expected to open narrowly mixed this morning. Similarly, lean hog futures should open with uneven price action thanks to a slow combination of residual selling and short covering. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady-$2 HR Futures: mixed Live Equiv $124.45 - 0.07* Hogs: Steady Futures: mixed Lean Equiv $ 78.78 + 0.24** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Look for cattle buyers to move closer to higher asking prices this morning as both sides make efforts to complete cash trading before adjourning for the traditional feast turkey, dressing, and heartburn. Asking prices are expected to hold relatively firm at $112 in the South and $174 plus in the North. Tighter processing margins could cause some buyers to stall until Friday. But our guess is that most players will do what it takes today in order to generate light to moderate trade volume sooner rather than later (i.e., feeding Friday for football and leftovers). Live and feeder futures should open on a mixed basis in very light volume many would be players have already checked out).