DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 12/04 06:13

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 12/04 06:13 Traders May Begin the Week Cautiously The cattle complex fell apart on Friday with feeder cattle posting over $5.00 losses. Futures fell back near the lows as the market was unable to find strong buyer interest. Hogs were lower suffering some of the same fate, but not with the pressure of cattle. Cash and cutouts remained weak. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Lower Futures: Lower Live Equiv: $215.36 -$0.62* Hogs: Lower Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv: $91.00 -$0.32** *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 futures just could not maintain any of the strength after the lows were reached earlier in the week. This weakness may set the stage for lower cash again this week. Packers will likely use this weakness to bid lower as feedlots may want to move cattle before price drops further. Contract lows will need to hold, or more technical selling will erupt. Cash cattle trade on Friday was in line with the week which should have been factored into the market. It seemed like it was end of the week selling as traders were uncertain over further upside potential in the near term. Feeder cattle plummeted and closed near their previous lows. The Commitment of Traders report showed funds trimmed their net long live cattle futures positions by 2,479 contracts, moving to a net long of 32,691. Feeder cattle showed funds selling 721 contracts moving them to a net short of 1,179 contracts.