DTN Midday Livestock Comments 09/24 11:38

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 09/24 11:38 Traders Continue to Push Livestock Contracts Higher With both midday pork cutout and boxed beef prices higher, the livestock complex is trading fully higher into Tuesday's noon hour. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The livestock complex is trading fully higher into Tuesday's noon hour as traders continue to advance the markets. It is helping traders' cause that both midday pork cutout values and boxed beef prices are higher as traders are yearning to see fundamental support following their big technical moves over the last 10 days. December corn is down 1/2 cent per bushel and December soybean meal is down $1.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 4.99 points. LIVE CATTLE: The market may have started off the day hesitantly, but now that the noon hour is quickly approaching, the entire live cattle complex is higher. October live cattle are up $0.12 at $183.35, December live cattle are up $0.57 at $184.40, and February live cattle are up $0.72 at $185.60. It's helpful for traders to see midday boxed beef prices higher as it's too early for the cash cattle market to lend any support. Cash trade won't likely develop until Thursday or Friday. Feedlot managers are again going to aim for higher prices and would likely be OK with steady money as last week's market traded $2.00 to $4.00 higher. But packers are going to be hard to negotiate with as their main aim is to keep feedlot managers from gaining any leverage. Bids and asking prices are elusive at this point. Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $0.98 ($302.79) and select up $0.77 ($288.56) with a movement of 84 loads (59.35 loads of choice, 15.49 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 9.65 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: Upon seeing the live cattle market turn its direction and again head higher, the feeder cattle complex has hopped on board and is also trading higher. October feeders are up $0.70 at $245.17, November feeders are up $0.62 at $243.37, and January feeders are up $0.25 at $238.02. So long as the live cattle complex continues to signal technical support and comfortability, feeders will likely continue to trend higher as they're far from any resistance points and have seen moderate demand in the countryside for feeders despite the fall run of calves and feeders already happening. LEAN HOGS: The lean hog complex is continuing to grind higher as traders are pleased to see midday pork cutout values higher. Demand will continue to be a key point for the market moving forward, especially given that traders have aggressively advanced the market over the last month. Do note that on Thursday the USDA will be releasing the latest Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. which could cause the futures complex to pull back ever so slightly ahead of that report. October lean hogs are down $0.07 at $82.22, December lean hogs are up $0.12 at $75.00, and February lean hogs are up $0.25 at $78.65. The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 9/23/2024 is down $0.08 at $84.21, and the actual index for 9/20/2024 is down $0.07 at $84.29. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.38 with a weighted average price of $74.94, ranging from $72.00 to $76.00 on 2,008 head and a five-day rolling average of $76.15. Pork cutouts total 176.87 loads with 154.02 loads of pork cuts and 22.85 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.47, $94.61. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.