DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 01/28 06:11

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 01/28 06:11 Livestock Futures Should See Further Support Live cattle were on a roller coaster Monday with stronger early trade giving way to weakness before returning to a nice close. Hogs posted triple-digit gains fueled by trader optimism. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Higher Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $242.43 +$1.97* Hogs: Higher Futures: Higher Lean Equiv: $98.81 +$1.47** GENERAL COMMENTS: Cattle futures opened higher Monday and extended the gains to new contract highs before buying interest ran out. Futures then fell back into negative territory. Live cattle rebounded into the close while feeder cattle closed with losses. The exception was the January feeder cattle contract, which stops trading Thursday. The friendly Cattle on Feed report should fuel the fire for higher prices. Feedlots will hold for high cash again this week. Packers have lost control over the market and would need to cut slaughter drastically to avoid paying higher cash for cattle. This is not likely as boxed beef was up strongly with choice gaining $2.16 and select up $4.26. Demand is strong and the packers need to meet it. The packers continue to purchase some cattle for deferred delivery but have not purchased a sufficient supply and continue to pay more for cattle. Feeder cattle closed lower, but that does not change the trend. Feeder cattle are in demand.