DTN Midday Livestock Comments 01/23 11:46 Traders Continue to Propel the Cattle Contracts Higher Although the contracts are rallying, the cash cattle market is still silent with no new trade having been reported just yet. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: It's been another prosperous day for the livestock complex as all three of the markets are trading higher again today -- even though contract highs were reached for many of the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts on Wednesday. The added market support of the Dow Jones continued rally is helping matters, as well as economic strength always bodes well for the commodity markets. March corn is up 8 1/2 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $2.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 266.65 points. LIVE CATTLE: As if Wednesday's ambitious action wasn't enough, the live cattle complex is continuing to trade higher into Thursday's noon hour. February live cattle are up $1.07 at $201.12, April live cattle are up $0.87 at $200.65 and June live cattle are up $0.92 at $195.82. And once again, Thursday's advancement scores new contract highs for most of the nearby contracts. Thursday's momentum is especially exhilarating as traders are largely making this move on their own as midday boxed beef prices are lower, and the cash cattle market still hasn't seen any significant trade development. There was a little bit of movement in the cash market on Tuesday at $201 in Kansas, which is fully steady with the previous week's weighted average but given that no more cattle have sold since then, it seems as though feedlot managers are content waiting for packers to get more aggressive in the market. Asking prices in the South are noted at $203 plus but are still not established yet for the North. But packer interest could begin to pop up and improve any moment now. It is unsettling to see boxed beef prices lower at today's noon hour -- which needs to remain a top priority in monitoring in the days to come because if demand weakens, some of the market's momentum will inevitability dissipate. Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $0.50 ($331.52) and select down $0.06 ($317.93) with a movement of 91 loads (47.33 loads of choice, 23.11 loads of select, 9.45 loads of trim and 11.03 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: With the technical support of the higher trend in the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle market is currently looking past the corn market's $0.07 to $0.08 rally, and it too is rallying into Thursday's noon hour. March feeders are up $1.27 at $274.37, April feeders are up $1.22 at $272.52 and May feeders are up $1.07 at $270.55. Aside from the technical support which the market is currently receiving, it's also helpful that feeder cattle demand remains incredible in the countryside as just Wednesday afternoon, the CME feeder cattle index closed at $278.18. Although much of the Midwest and Southern part of the United States is receiving extremely cold weather this week -- buyer demand hasn't weakened whatsoever. LEAN HOGS: With midday pork cutout values up almost $3.00 higher -- it's no wonder why the lean hog complex is rallying! February lean hogs are up $0.62 at $82.10, April lean hogs are up $0.10 at $87.35 and June lean hogs are up $0.35 at $101.02. Thursday's big jump in the carcass price is mainly because of the $5.74 gain in the butt and the $5.18 jump in the loin, but the belly isn't far behind with its $4.23 rally. The projected lean hog index for 1/22/2025 is up $0.21 at $81.93, and the actual index for 1/21/2025 is up $0.26 at $81.72. Hog prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we can see that only 495 head have traded this morning, and that the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $80.20. Pork cutouts total 162.89 loads with 151.99 loads of pork cuts and 10.90 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.93, $93.10. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.