DTN Closing Livestock Comment 05/24 15:22
24 May 2018
DTN Closing Livestock Comment 05/24 15:22 Cattle Futures Fade in Late Day Trade Moderate to strong support in cattle trade quickly faded late in the session as strong market losses developed in nearby live cattle futures. This quickly shifted the tone of all market activity with cattle markets closing mostly lower, while hog futures posted firm gains at the closing bell. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS Cash cattle interest remains undeveloped with bids moving little from when packers first rolled out offers earlier in the week. Bids are stated in the North at $108 live basis and $175 dressed basis. This is still well below asking prices of $115 and higher in the South, and $182 to $185 in the North. At this point it appears that trade will be delayed until Friday. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.01 lower compared with the Prior Day settlement ($58.00 to $66.00) weighted average $64.79. The corn futures are lower in light activity. July futures were 4 cents lower Thursday. The Dow Jones Index is 69 points lower with the Nasdaq down 3 points.