DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 07/10 06:18

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 07/10 06:18 Boxed Beef Weakness May Pressure Futures Cattle futures had a strong Friday as corn was under pressure and cash cattle held steady to $1.00 lower into the end of the week, maintaining what took place on Thursday. Hogs showed mixed trade with some spread unwinding and neutral export sales. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Steady Futures: Lower Live Equiv: $230.30 -$2.29* Hogs: Higher Futures: Higher Lean Equiv: $115.12 +$3.03** *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: Cattle were able to close higher with a correlation to weaker corn futures. Live cattle futures were also supported by cash remaining steady to $1.00 lower. The fear of lower cash cattle subsided as the trend established Thursday carried through Friday. This relieved some of the fear, allowing futures to be supported by lower corn. The greater issue plaguing the cattle complex is the weakness of boxed beef. Choice cuts declined $2.97 with select down $4.34 on Friday. This does not bode well as demand has slowed. Feeder cattle found strength from lower corn prices resulting in contracts closing the chart gap left from the lower opening and trade of the previous day. However, feeder cattle closed over $2.00 lower for the week. The Commitment of Traders report showed funds adding 5,005 futures contracts to their already net-long position in live cattle, moving it to 112,157 contracts. Feeder cattle showed an increase of 1,707 long positions moving to it a net-long position of 16,341 contracts.