DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/18 11:47

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/18 11:47 Traders Show Livestock Complex Ample Interest Last week's late rally in the cattle complex has followed the market into the new week as both the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts are trading higher Monday. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The livestock complex has been met with ample trader support throughout Monday and currently all three of the livestock contracts are trading higher into the noon hour. Both boxed beef prices and pork cutout values traded weaker last week, so monitoring consumer demand will be critical again this week. December corn is up 3 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $1.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 6.66 points. LIVE CATTLE: The live cattle complex is again trading higher into the day's noon hour as the market is rallying off the momentum built late last week. December live cattle are up $0.82 at $183.77, February live cattle are up $0.52 at $185.77, and April live cattle are up $0.60 at $188.00. Thankfully this newfound technical bump is helping create a large distance between the spot February contract and the market's 100-day moving average, which has been a threshold which the market has struggled to move away from. It didn't help that last week's boxed beef prices and cash cattle trade were both lower, but traders seem eager to again support the complex regardless of its currently weak fundamentals. Last week Southern live cattle traded at mostly $185, which is $2.00 lower than last week's weighed average, and Northern dressed cattle traded anywhere from $287 to $300, but mostly at $290 which is $3.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average. Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $4.48 ($307.82) and select down $1.09 ($275.05) with a movement of 65 loads (40.79 loads of choice, 11.80 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 12.16 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: The feeder cattle complex is continuing to build aggressively on top of the monstrous gains made last week. January feeders are up $1.60 at $248.87, March feeders are up $2.30 at $247.90, and April feeders are up $2.37 at $248.90. More than anything the momentum seems to stem from the countryside's tremendous demand as buyers continue to actively seek out both feeders and calves as they know supplies are only going to get thinner moving forward. LEAN HOGS: The lean hog complex is trading slightly higher into Monday's noon hour as the market may have found some technical footing following last week's descent. December lean hogs are up $0.57 at $80.07, February lean hogs are up $0.45 at $83.35, and April lean hogs are up $0.55 at $87.47. Pork cutout values are again lower at the week's start, but the biggest limiting factor Monday is the rib's $4.82 decline, along with the bellies decline of $2.85. The projected CME Lean Hog Index is delayed from the source. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $0.25 with a weighted average price of $83.12, ranging from $78.00 to $84.00 on 881 head and a five-day rolling average of $86.66. Pork cutouts total 136.86 loads with 115.99 loads of pork cuts and 20.86 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.08, $97.03. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.