DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 04/14 06:19

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 04/14 06:19 Traders May Take Some Profits Before Weekend Cattle futures gapped open again Thursday, pushing to new contract highs, but then retraced, filling the gap and closed lower. The exception was the nearby April contracts. Hogs opened lower and extended the losses as the day progressed, establishing new contract lows. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Steady Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $221.16 +$1.29* Hogs: Lower Futures: Higher Lean Equiv: $84.83 +$1.54** *Based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue. (The Live Cattle Equiv. Index has been updated to depict recent changes in live cattle weights and grading percentages.) ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue. GENERAL COMMENTS: Live cattle futures showed strong buying interest right from the start, similar to the action a week ago. Weekly export sales were not very good at 8,700 metric tons (mt), down 36% from the previous week, but that had little impact on the market early in the day. Cash cattle were expected to trade higher, and they did with live cattle in the South trading $5.00 higher and live cattle in the North trading as much as $10.00 higher. Northern dressed cattle averaged $11.00 higher than last week. Packers had no choice but to step up and pay the price as demand remains strong and the strong slaughter pace needs to be maintained. Boxed beef prices were also higher with choice up $1.94 and select up $1.57. However, futures began seeing more aggressive selling later in the morning, resulting in contracts closing lower, except for nearby April contracts.