DTN Closing Livestock Comment 08/13 17:15

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 08/13 17:15 Cattle Futures Close Limit Lower Again Tuesday Live cattle futures closed limit lower for a second consecutive day Tuesday as traders continued to react to Friday's plant fire and lower processing schedules. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: August live cattle futures closed limit lower for the second consecutive session Tuesday. Aggressive pressure in the complex sparked additional sell orders. The market weakness appears to be driven by fear and uncertainty about long-term processing potential. The negativity in the market is having a greater impact than overall lost production at this point. Hog futures weakened, influenced by softness in the cattle trade. Cash cattle activity remained silent as packers and feedlot managers are unwilling to step into this tumbling market. The limit losses over the last two trading sessions are likely to lead to cash market weakness the rest of the week. With trade last week limited, it is expected that some business will need to be done despite the negativity in cattle futures trade. It could be late week before deals are reached. The National Daily Direct afternoon hog report was $1.26 higher ($58.52 to $72.50, weighted average $70.01) on 14,626 head sold. Corn futures fell again in reaction to Monday's bearish USDA report with September down 19 cents. Stock markets ended higher in light trade with the Dow up 384 points and the NASDAQ up 149 points.