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DTN Midday Livestock Comments 03/17 11:40
Traders Continue to Help the Cattle Contracts Trade Higher
With ample technical support, both the live cattle and feeder cattle
contracts are trading higher.
ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst
GENERAL COMMENTS:
The livestock complex is mixed into Tuesday's noon hour as the cattle
contracts continue to scale higher while the lean hog contracts are trading
slightly lower. No developments have surfaced yet in the cash cattle market and
likely won't until later in the week. May corn is down 1 1/2 cents per bushel
and May soybean meal is down $1.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up
134.27 points and NASDAQ is up 89.61 points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Again, today the live cattle complex is rallying into Tuesday's noon hour as
trader support helps drive the complex higher. Yes, midday boxed beef prices
are higher, but aside from that, the market hasn't found much other fundamental
support this week. It's fully expected that later this week when the fed cash
cattle market does begin to trade, that prices will likely be lower given the
reduction in throughput. April live cattle are up $1.97 at $235.22, June live
cattle are up $1.65 at $233.55 and August live cattle are up $1.60 at $231.27.
No bids or asking prices have surfaced yet in the fed cash cattle complex, and
it's fully assumed that trade will be delayed until later in the week. Trade
could be potentially delayed until after Friday's Cattle on Feed report.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $1.08 ($403.74) and select up $4.49
($399.00) with a movement of 63 loads (49.12 loads of choice, 4.15 loads of
select, 3.25 loads of trim and 6.14 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
In keeping with perfect unison to the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle
contracts are also trading higher. March feeders are up $3.17 at $358.62, April
feeders are up $4.10 at $353.95 and May feeders are up $4.75 at $350.30. The
market is comfortably trading between its 100- and 40-day moving averages, but
as it gets closer to the resistance near the 40-day moving average, it may
elect to chop sideways until greater fundamental support surfaces.
LEAN HOGS:
Meanwhile the lean hog complex is more or less chopping sideways as traders
don't possess enough support to rally the complex, but thankfully, no more
immediate downward pressure has been felt. April lean hogs are up $0.02 at
$93.52, June lean hogs are down $0.22 at $107.02 and July lean hogs are down
$0.15 at $109.17. If pork cutout demand could improve, that would likely help
traders push the market slightly higher.
The projected lean hog index is delayed from the source. Hog prices are
higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $6.00 with a weighted average
price of $92.04, ranging from $86.00 to $93.00 on 3,390 head and a five-day
rolling average of $92.21. Pork cutouts total 148.48 loads with 141.12 loads of
pork cuts and 7.36 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $0.02, $100.42.
ShayLe Stewart can be reached at shayle.stewart@dtn.com
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