DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 05/25 06:15

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 05/25 06:15 Limited Trade Expected Friday Trader interest is expected to remain sluggish through the entire Friday session with traders still in the market focusing more on end of the week and pre-holiday positioning than anything else at this point. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst Cattle: Steady to $2 Lower Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $147.69 -0.41* Hogs: Mixed Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv: $ 79.30 -0.70** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Although the desire from both packers and feedlot managers would be to finish cash cattle trade early and call it good ahead of the long holiday weekend, it appears that there is still a lot of work to do before any significant business gets done. The few trades reported through the North so far this week have been incredibly inconsistent when it comes to price ranges and are unable to establish a market trend at this point. Packer interest is expected to improve through the morning, but it could be late day before trade develops. Futures trade is expected to be mixed following the late-day market pullback on Thursday. Overall trade volume is likely to be extremely light with many traders already stepping away from the complex in front of the long holiday weekend.