DTN Closing Livestock Comment 12/21 16:05
21 Dec 2016
DTN Closing Livestock Comment 12/21 16:05 Meat Futures Close With Solid Price Progress The cattle complex closed moderately higher at midweek, supported by short-covering, technical-buying and cash optimism. Lean hog issues also settled with respectable price progress thanks to constructive fundamentals and positive charts. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Although feedlot country saw plenty of midweek bids, none of them were sexy enough to attract any selling interest. For example, Southern buyers waived bids of $110 in the face of $115 asking prices and got absolutely no reaction. The Fed Cattle Exchange sold 2,860 head Wednesday (out of a total showlist of 5,517) at an average price of $112.68, $2.21 higher than last week. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.03 lower ($44.50-$53.50, weighted average $52.67). The corn market settled 3 cents lower thanks to a general lack of buying interest. The stock market closed lower tied to pre-holiday profit-taking. The Dow finished 32 points lower with the Nasdaq off 12.