DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 08/06 05:58

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 08/06 05:58 Look for Stronger Cattle Futures on Opening Live and feeder contracts should open higher Monday, boosted by follow-through buying and greater packer spending late last week. On the other hand, lean hog futures are staged for initial weakness Monday thanks to residual selling interest and defensive fundamentals. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady-$2 HR Futures: 50-100 HR Live Equiv: $136.33 + .38* Hogs: $1-2 LR Futures: 50-100 LR Lean Equiv: $ 76.73 -1.56** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Monday's action in the cattle trade should be typically slow as packers limit their focus on the assessment of new showlists. Given how aggressive beef producers responded to higher packer bids late Friday ($113 to $114 live; $178 dressed), we expect the new fed offering to be generally smaller, especially in the North. Live and feeder futures are geared to open higher thanks to short-covering, technical buying and the premium of cash feedlot trade.