News & Resources

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 01/13 16:35

13 Jan 2017
DTN Closing Livestock Comment 01/13 16:35 Cattle Futures Close Week With Triple-Digit Gains Live and feeder cattle futures closed sharply higher, supported by aggressive short-covering and cash optimism. Lean hog futures settled mostly higher, supported by generally constructive fundamentals and spec-buying. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The cash cattle trade continues to have difficulty finding the level of compromise needed to generate significant volume. Poorly margined packers are pulling one direction while bullish feedlots are leaning in the other. Having said that, some business appears to be developing late in parts of the North at $190.00 on a dressed basis, roughly $2.00 higher than last week's weighted average basis Nebraska. Southern bids have improved up to $118.00 at this time but continue to be passed (most area showlists are priced around $120.00). The national hog base closed $0.43 higher compared with the prior day settlement ($58.33-$63.75, weighted average $61.63). From Friday to Friday, livestock futures scored the following changes: Feb LC, Up $3.70; Apr LC, Up $3.72; Jan FC, Up $2.13; Mar FC, Up $5.50; Feb LH, Up $1.63; Apr LH, Up $1.42. Corn futures closed fractionally higher, supported somewhat by late-week short-covering following Thursday's bearish supply and demand numbers. The stock market closed mixed with the Dow off 5 and the Nasdaq up 26.