DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/20 11:50

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/20 11:50 Hogs Jump Higher while Cattle Pause Their Rally No trade has developed yet in the cash cattle market and it is likely trade will be delayed until Thursday or Friday as packers again hope to get cattle bought cheaper. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The livestock complex is seeing mixed interest this morning as the lean hog contracts are successfully rallying into Wednesday's noon hour but the cattle contracts are trading slightly lower. More than anything the cattle complex hopes to find some better fundamental support to reassure traders of their recent move. December corn is up 3 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is up $1.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 65.17 points. LIVE CATTLE: After trading substantially higher earlier in the week, the live cattle complex is now trading slightly lower as traders need to see followed-through fundamental support before they'll likely advance the contracts again. Not to mention when there's a Cattle on Feed report set to be released, traders usually pull back from the market ahead of seeing what the report yields. December live cattle are down $0.30 at $186.27, February live cattle are down $0.12 at $187.87 and April live cattle are up $0.30 at $189.72. The cash cattle market is still quiet without any bids currently being offered. Asking prices are noted in the South at $187 to $188, but are still not established in the North. Packer demand could improve throughout the day, but it's most likely that trade will be delayed until Thursday or Friday. Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $0.48 ($308.31) and select down $0.99 ($270.92) with a movement of 64 loads (40.67 loads of choice, 10.97 loads of select, 5.38 loads of trim and 6.83 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: The momentum that helped drive the feeder cattle contracts higher has simmered down as trades are now looking around needing fundamental support to give them reassurance in their recent move. January feeders are down $0.05 at $251.95, March feeders are down $0.20 at $251.05 and April feeders are down $0.10 at $252.05. Even though buyer demand is still excellent throughout the countryside for both feeders and calves, it's likely that traders will remain cautious until they see what Friday's Cattle on Feed report yields. LEAN HOGS: The cattle contracts may be trading in a slightly lower manner, but the lean hog complex finally attracted traders which has helped propel the contracts into Wednesday's noon hour. Also helping push the contracts along is the higher note in pork cutout values, which is mostly derived from the belly's $8.28 jump, and the picnic's $6.96 jump. December lean hogs are up $1.05 at $80.60, February lean hogs are up $1.82 at $84.70 and April lean hogs are up $1.75 at $88.85. The projected lean hog index for 11/19/2024 is down $0.26 at $87.83, and the actual index for 11/18/2024 is down $0.40 at $88.09. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog report, up $3.16 with a weighted average price of $85.16, ranging from $78.00 to $86.00 on 2,171 head and a five-day rolling average of $84.51. Pork cutouts total 137.23 loads with 112.02 loads of pork cuts and 25.21 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.29, $96.97. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.