DTN Closing Livestock Comment 01/24 15:44

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 01/24 15:44 Cattle Futures Slide Lower in Late-Day Sell-off Early support in livestock futures was quickly derailed Tuesday afternoon when moderate to strong pressure swiftly moved through cattle futures. Even though cattle markets bounced off of session lows, the moderate pressure at closing bell creates uncertainty for midweek trade direction. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Cash cattle markets are still quiet late Tuesday with late-day bids starting to develop at $118 per cwt in the South. This is unlikely to gain support given the wide gap between bids and asking prices. Current asking prices are seen at $124 and higher in the South and $200 in the North. Firm growth in beef supplies at the beginning of January were offset by a moderate to strong pullback in pork supplies in the same time period on the Monthly Cold Storage report released Tuesday afternoon. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.38 higher compared with the Prior Day settlement ($58.00-$64.50, weighted average $63.09). The corn trade turned lower in light to moderate activity. March futures posted a 6-cent loss Tuesday. The Dow Jones Index is 112 points higher with the Nasdaq up 48 points.