DTN Midday Livestock Comments 12/18 11:50

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 12/18 11:50 Cattle Continue to Dip Lower While Hogs Trade Higher Some early bids have surfaced in Nebraska, but still no cattle have sold and won't likely until Thursday or Friday. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The livestock complex is again trading mixed into Wednesday's noon hour as the cattle complex remains hesitant to advance the contracts before seeing what develops in the cash market, but the lean hog complex is trading higher. A couple bids have surfaced in Nebraska at $305 dressed, but still no cattle have traded. March corn is down 4 3/4 cents per bushel and January soybean meal is down $7.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 169.80 points. LIVE CATTLE: The live cattle complex is continuing to trail lower as anxiousness from traders seems to have the market's full attention. Some profit taking could also happen in the money managed sector as traders were leery of how long the market could sustain its position above the market's resistance at $190. December live cattle are down $0.75 at $191.50, February live cattle are down $0.87 at $188.87 and April live cattle are down $0.65 at $190.92. A bid of $305 is currently being offered in the North, but to no one's surprise, no cattle have traded just yet. Asking prices in the North are still unestablished, but Southern feedlots have their hopes set on getting $193 to $195 this week. Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $1.50 ($314.13) and select down $3.08 ($285.42) with a movement of 66 loads (31.40 loads of choice, 18.07 loads of select, 6.14 loads of trim and 10.79 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: The feeder cattle complex is also trading lower at Wednesday's noon hour as the market isn't thrilled to see the live cattle complex committed to a downward trend. January feeders are down $0.32 at $257.15, March feeders are down $0.57 at $257.65 and April feeders are down $0.77 at $258.60. Wednesday's lower move doesn't reflect any changes in the countryside as demand remains incredible, but rather instead a reaction from traders as they're looking for additional market support. LEAN HOGS: After closing lower both Monday and Tuesday afternoon, the lean hog complex seems to have found some technical footing again in the marketplace, which is also complimented by the morning's higher note in pork cutout values. February lean hogs are up $0.45 at $83.65, April lean hogs are up $0.85 at $88.90 and June lean hogs are up $0.75 at $100.70. Although, the ham was pressured earlier this week, it's the leading reason this morning for the carcass's higher prices as it's up $1.47 and the picnic is up $1.36. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 2,000 head traded Wednesday morning and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $79.03. Pork cutouts total 123.96 loads with 96.40 loads of pork cuts and 27.56 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.90, $95.67. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.