DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 05/18 06:02

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 05/18 06:02 Hog Futures Likely to Open Moderately Higher Look for lean hog contracts to open moderately higher, supported by improving product demand and bull-spreading interest. Cattle futures should also start out Friday morning with a firm undertone thanks to short-covering and oversold oscillators. By John Harrington DTN Analyst Cattle: Stdy/wk w/Thus Futures: 50-100 HR Live Equiv: $150.11 + .49* Hogs: Steady-$1 HR Futures: 50-100 HR Lean Equiv: $ 80.58 + 1.11** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Weighted trade volume totals look relatively small in some cattle feeding areas, so we could see one last round of light-to-moderate business before this ugly week gets put to bed. Yet when markets seem to implode by the hour, sellers are less than enthusiastic to report lower money. In short, it's been a difficult week to accurately track volume in a timely fashion. Possibly, cash trading is done for the week. Our guess is that whatever steers and heifers remain unsold will be priced around $118 in the South and $185 in the North. Live and feeder futures should open moderately higher, supported by follow-through short-covering and the need to correct oversold charts.