DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 10/02 05:54

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 10/02 05:54 Meat Futures Set to Open Trading Week With Mixed Prices Look for the cattle complex to open futures trading on a mixed basis tied to a slow combination of short-covering and long liquidation. Similarly, lean hog contracts should begin with uneven action with deferreds better supported than nearbys. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Cash Steady Futures Mixed Live Equiv $132.18 - .08* Hogs: Cash Steady Futures Mixed Lean Equiv $78.57 + .85** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Early week activity in the cattle trade will be typically limited to the distribution of new showlists. Since trade volume totals seemed to be on the short side last week, the early month offering could be somewhat larger. On the other hand, well-margined packers should be relatively short bought, especially given last week's larger kill of 648,000 head (11,000 more than the previous week and 33,000 greater than 2016). Our guess is that asking prices will start out around $110 to $112 in the South and $174 to $175-plus in the North. Live and feeder futures should open on a mixed basis thanks to a light combination of short-covering and long liquidation.