DTN Midday Livestock Comments          12/10 12:09

   Live Cattle Trade Mixed While the Rest of Complex Trade Higher 

   Live cattle contracts welcome Tuesday carefully while it appears that the 
rest of the complex is eager to trade modestly higher. 

By ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

General Comments

   Support seems to be building in the livestock arena as contracts look to 
trade higher as the noon hour approaches and anticipated higher cash cattle 
trade is expected. With Christmas only two weeks away, major business that 
needs to happen before the end of the year will need to take place this week 
and next. March corn is down 1/4 cent per bushel and January soybean meal is 
down $0.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 21.66 points and NASDAQ is 
up 7.88 points. 

   LIVE CATTLE 

   The live cattle market is still getting its head wrapped around the buzz of 
last week's slaughter and the last-minute cash cattle trade and is taking its 
sweet time trading Tuesday. December live cattle are down $0.02 at $120.15, 
February live cattle are up $0.07 at $124.82 and April live cattle are down 
$0.02 at $125.37. Cash trade is expected to trade modestly higher again this 
week, though no asking prices or bids have been placed yet this week. Last week 
trade didn't get underway until the Fed Cattle Exchange where the first of the 
week's trade took place. This week's line up of 1,068 head (all with 
one-to-nine-day delivery) with four pens from Nebraska, two pens from Kansas 
and one pen from Texas, trade may wait to see how the public auction fairs 
before a tone is established. 

   Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $0.50 ($223.14) and select is down 
$1.21 ($205.28) with a movement of 86 loads (58.36 loads of choice, 13.53 loads 
of select, 5.55 loads of trim and 8.15 loads of ground beef). 

   FEEDER CATTLE 

   Trading higher with encouragement from Monday's strong close, feeder cattle 
markets look higher surrounding the noon hour. January feeders are up $0.62 at 
$142.15, March feeders are up $0.62 at $142.90 and April feeders are up $0.57 
at $144.72. 

   LEAN HOGS 

   The spot December lean hog contract trades most cautiously, while other lean 
hog contracts push prices well over $1.00 gains. December lean hogs are up 
steady at $60.00, February lean hogs are up $0.72 at $67.42 and April lean hogs 
are up $0.82 at $73.80. Given that cash prices are a tick stronger and that 
cutout values are much stronger - a positive undertone is building in the hog 
complex. 

   The projected lean hog index for 12/06/19 is down $0.37 at $58.12, and the 
actual index for 12/05/19 9s up $0.15 at $58.49. Hog prices are higher on the 
National Direct Morning Hog Report, up $0.35 with a weighted average of $47.41, 
ranging from $44.50 to $48.30 on 5,027 head sold and a five-day rolling average 
of $46.77. Pork cutouts total 239.36 loads with 223.37 loads of pork cuts and 
15.99 loads of trim. Pork cutout values are higher, up $2.75 at $84.73. 

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


(AG)

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