DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 09/01 06:13

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 09/01 06:13 Futures May Drift Into Weekend Even though cash cattle traded steady to lower Thursday, traders moved futures higher. Traders were cautious over cash and now that it is known, the market adjusted. Hogs could not hold the gains of Thursday as packers did not need to pay higher prices for hogs. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Steady Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $229.91 -$0.71* Hogs: Steady Futures: Higher Lean Equiv: $99.33 +$0.10** *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: Cash cattle traded Thursday with prices steady to as much as $3.00 lower. Cattle in the North traded as much as $3.00 lower while Southern cattle traded steady to $1.00 lower. Most of the trade in the South was steady with last week at $179. Traders covered some short positions now that cash is known and there is optimism packers may need to purchase more cattle Friday but likely at steady money to finish up sales for the week. However, it is the final trading day ahead of a three-day weekend, which generally had traders squaring up their positions to limit exposure. This sometimes causes trading activity that is not related to fundamentals. Boxed beef prices Thursday were lower with choice down $1.32 and select down $0.28. Weekly export sales were good at 18,200 metric tons (mt), up 59% from the previous week, which likely provided some support to the market yesterday.