DTN Midday Livestock Comments 10/14 11:49

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 10/14 11:49 Mixed Tones Summarize Livestock Complex at Monday's Noon Hour A theme throughout the livestock complex this week will be the need for steady and stable fundamental support. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The livestock complex is trading mixed into Monday's noon hour as the cattle contracts are pushing slightly higher while the hog complex dips lower. It will be imperative that demand is strong this week as traders need fundamental reassurance in all of the markets. December corn is down 5 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is up $2.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 194.18 points. LIVE CATTLE: With the continued support of stronger boxed beef prices, the live cattle complex is trading mostly higher into Monday's noon hour. Last week the market's fundamentals were extremely supportive as, not only were boxed beef prices higher throughout the majority of the week, but the cash cattle market traded steady to $1.00 higher too. Once again, this week traders will desperately need the market's fundamentals to continue to trade in a supportive manner if the board is going to maintain its position at these higher price points. October live cattle are down $0.10 at $188.50, December live cattle are up $0.62 at $188.20, and February live cattle are up $0.67 at $188.87. New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Nebraska and Colorado, but lower in Kansas and Texas. Last week Southern live cattle traded at mostly $187, which is $1.00 higher than the previous week's weighted average, and Northern dressed cattle traded at mostly $296, which is fully steady with the previous week's weighted average. Last week's negotiated cash cattle trade totaled 92,611 head. Of that 80% (74,479 head) were committed to the nearby delivery while the remaining 20% (18,132 head) were committed for the deferred delivery. Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $1.59 ($312.81) and select up $1.73 ($290.45) with a movement of 32 loads (19.23 loads of choice, 5.99 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 7.22 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: Upon seeing the nearby corn contracts trading $0.05 to $0.07 cheaper and the live cattle market rallying yet again, the feeder cattle complex is trading higher into Monday's noon hour as well. It's interesting to note that the contracts currently with the biggest gains for the day are the March and April 2025 contracts, which could be indicative that traders are noting supplies are going to be incredibly thin during that time. October feeders are down $0.10 at $249.65, November feeders are up $0.70 at $250.50, and January feeders are up $0.95 at $248.20. LEAN HOGS: Even though midday pork cutout values are higher, the lean hog complex is trading mostly lower as traders are concerned about domestic consumer support following last week's weaker demand. December lean hogs are down $1.82 at $75.82, February lean hogs are down $1.35 at $79.80, and April lean hogs are down $0.92 at $84.25. Unless traders see better consumer demand this week, the market could potentially trade lower as it's currently at its highest price point in the last four months. The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 10/11/2024 is down $0.13 at $84.16, and the actual index for 10/10/2024 is down $0.18 at $84.29. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see only 229 head have traded and the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $75.52. Pork cutouts total 149.91 loads with 125.08 loads of pork cuts and 24.38 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.88, $96.35. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.