DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 12/07 05:58
7 Dec 2018
DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 12/07 05:58 Cattle Paper to Open Mixed as Traders Wait for the Determination of Packer Spending Live and feeder futures seem staged to open mixed thanks to a slow and cautious combination of short-covering and cash monitoring. Lean hog issues should also open with uneven price action as traders puzzle over the ability of late-year pork demand to handle record tonnage. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady-$1 HR Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $139.37 + .12* Hogs: Steady Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv: $ 76.94 + .42** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: If it's Friday, it must be time to trade cattle. At least that's the schedule we've followed for a large part of the fourth quarter. The big question is just "how big" the gulf between bids (e.g., $112 to $114 in the South) and asking prices ($120 in the South) will be. Live and feeder futures are set to open on a mixed basis as buyers and sellers jockey around late-week cash prospects.