DTN Midday Livestock Comments          05/26 12:26

   Refreshed and Ready for the New Week

   It would appear that the three-day weekend served the livestock industry 
well as all contracts are trading higher and energy is apparent within the 
day's dynamic.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

   General Comments

    

   The marketplace is thriving midmorning Tuesday as all three livestock 
contracts continue to trade higher and even though it's early in the week, a 
light run of cash cattle have traded for $190 in parts of Nebraska. Significant 
trade will most likely hold off until later in the week but seeing prices come 
out strong this early is another good sign for the market this week. July corn 
is up 1 1/2 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $0.10. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average is up 567.42 points and NASDAQ is up 75.36 points.

    

   LIVE CATTLE

    

   Live cattle contracts may not be rallying the solid $3.00 or higher like the 
feeder cattle complex is, but the substantial $1.70 to $2.00 gains seen 
throughout the complex is warmly welcomed. June live cattle are up $1.72 at 
$99.40, August live cattle are up $1.82 at $99.15 and October live cattle are 
up $1.82 at $101.22. Seeing that both the June and August contracts are within 
a $1.00 of the $100.00 threshold, leaves the market with a decision to make. Is 
there enough support and enough traders around willing to buy into the 
marketplace to push past the $100 benchmark? Or will the market trade higher, 
but without coming in full contact with the resistance? Solid support builds 
within the market as cash cattle have already traded steady this week. Some 
light trade is developing in parts of Nebraska at $190, which is fully steady 
with the top end of last week's business. Showlists this week appear to be 
higher in all feeding regions and especially in Texas.

    

   Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $10.73 ($386.01) and select down 
$9.62 ($364.56) with a movement of 149 loads (97.46 loads of choice, 14.69 
loads of select, 3.29 loads of trim and 33.91 loads of ground beef).

    

   FEEDER CATTLE

    

   Feeder cattle contracts head into Tuesday ready to capture all of what the 
day has to offer and push contracts into mostly triple-digit gains. August 
feeders are up $4.30 at $133.07, September feeders are up $3.87 at $134.02 and 
October feeders are up $3.65 at $134.90. Last week, the market danced mostly 
lower as there was pressure on both live cattle and feeder cattle contracts. 
Seeing that fat cattle are testing the market this week already fully steady 
with last week's prices, if the board can rally on the live cattle side of 
things, the feeder cattle contracts are appearing to be growing in strength. 
This comes as a pleasant surprise as cattle producers look forward to seeing 
what the first large runs of videos sale do in the next couple of weeks for 
feeder cattle.

    

   LEAN HOGS

    

   The lean hog complex wasn't completely sure about the day's ambition to 
rally higher but has since warmed up to the idea and is trading right along 
with cattle contracts. June lean hogs are up $2.17 at $60.95, July lean hogs 
are up $3.42 at $59.32 and August lean hogs are up $2.60 at $56.87. Morning 
pork cutout values skyrocketed pushing upwards of $10 higher, so heading into 
the afternoon it will be interesting to see where those prices close and see 
how demand changes over the next little while.

    

   The projected lean hog index for 5/22/2020 is down $1.15 at $62.30, and the 
actual index for 5/21/2020 is down $1.15 at $63.45. Hog prices are lower on the 
National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $2.61 with a weighted average of 
$36.20, ranging $32.00 to $39.00 on 4,805 head sold. Pork cutouts total 193.86 
loads with 178.61 loads of pork cuts and 15.25 loads of trim. Pork cutout 
values: up $10.06, $106.81.

    

   ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com

    

    




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