DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 02/14 06:21

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 02/14 06:21 Traders Wait For Cash Cattle Action Friday Cattle futures found footing Thursday, but that may not be enough to change the trend unless cash trades higher. Boxed beef may limit the gains. Hogs tried to minimize the losses for a while but succumbed to pressure with April closing the gap. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Lower Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $234.02 -$0.75* Hogs: Lower Futures: Higher Lean Equiv: $106.52 +$2.24** *Based on the formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue. (The Live Cattle Equiv. The index has been updated to depict recent changes in live cattle weights and grading percentages.) ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue. GENERAL COMMENTS: Traders did not want to put more pressure on the cattle market before knowing where cash would end up this week. The light trading activity that took place showed Southern cattle trading was $3.00 lower. Feedlots are intent on limiting cash weakness and are holding out in hopes packers will need to step up and purchase. It will be interesting to see who will blink first once trading volume surfaces. Boxed beef has been trending lower with prices mixed Thursday. Choice cuts were down $1.86 with select cuts up $0.70. If anything would put pressure on cash, it likely would be the weakness of boxed beef. Packers have been reducing the slaughter to position themselves better in the market and to back up cattle. They are at high weights, which requires fewer cattle for tonnage. Feeder cattle had a strong day with futures developing a sideways pattern.