DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/27 11:50

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/27 11:50 Early Strong Sales in Cash Cattle Market Help Push Cattle Contracts Higher The cattle complex is having no issue trading higher as early cash cattle sales are higher and midday boxed beef prices are as well. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: With the help of the cash cattle market's higher trend, both the live cattle and feeder cattle markets are trading higher into Wednesday's noon hour. Although only a few sales have been noted at this point, some Southern cattle have traded at $190 and Northern dressed sales are being reported at $295. March corn is steady and January soybean meal is up $4.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 76.61 points. LIVE CATTLE: There have been a few early sales in the cash cattle market which has helped the live cattle contracts as higher trade in the fed cash cattle market is always a positive sign. Although these sales have been light in their developments thus far, live sales have been marked in Kansas at $190 which is $3.00 to $4.00 higher than last week's weighted average, and a handful of dressed sales have been marked in Nebraska at $295 which is $5.00 higher than last week's weighted average. What was especially interesting about the sales made in Nebraska was that packers committed the cattle for delivery on the weeks of 12/2/2024, and 12/16/2024, which indicates that they're short bought and in need of more cattle to keep up with demand. Thankfully feedlot managers were savvy to this and have jumped at the opportunity to again trade cattle higher this week. Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $0.49 ($312.06) and select up $0.29 ($275.78) with a movement of 86 loads (45.01 loads of choice, 20.29 loads of select, 8.09 loads of trim and 12.65 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: Upon seeing some early sales developing in the fed cash cattle market for higher prices, the feeder cattle complex is confidently keeping with its upward trek. January feeders are up $0.62 at $258.72, March feeders are up $0.65 at $257.12 and April feeders are up $0.50 at $258.00. With Mexican cattle imports still being restricted upon a finding of a cow with the New World screwworm, it's likely that the feeder cattle market will have no issue keeping with its rally for the near term. LEAN HOGS: With pork cutout values again lower this morning, and traders looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, it comes as no major surprise that the nearby lean hog contracts are again trading lower. December lean hogs are down $0.60 at $82.50, February lean hogs are down $0.27 at $88.02 and April lean hogs are down $0.30 at $91.27. The biggest determent to the carcass price this morning has been the belly's $7.92 decline, followed closely then by the ham's $6.00 decline. And it would also be remiss to ignore the fact that Tuesday's surge ran most of the nearby contracts to new contract highs, which is typical then for traders to show some exhaustion as their efforts the day before were significant. The projected lean hog index for 11/26/2024 is down $0.39 at $85.51, and the actual index for 11/25/2024 is down $0.56 at $85.90. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.33 with a weighted average price of $87.36, ranging from $81.50 to $88.15 on 2,210 head and a five-day rolling average of $86.84. Pork cutouts total 157.18 loads with 137.09 loads of pork cuts and 20.09 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.90, $89.25. ** As a new administration prepares to take office, farmers are preparing for the next growing season. In this year's DTN Ag Summit, we'll examine the state of national farm policy, including timing on a farm bill, makeup of the ag committees and new leadership at USDA. A few of the winners of this year's America's Best Farmers and Ranchers award share what they've learned from selling directly to consumers, and the DTN markets and weather team will offer their perspective on what's in store for 2025. The DTN Ag Summit is scheduled for Dec. 5-6, 2024. Use this link to sign up: https://dtn.link/DTNAgSummit2024 ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.