DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 12/27 05:55
27 Dec 2018
DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 12/27 05:55 Hog Futures Seem Staged to Open Moderately Lower Lean hog contracts are expected to open moderately lower, checked by long liquidation and defensive fundamentals. On the other hand, look for the cattle complex to start out with mixed prices tied to light volume and feedlot cash potential. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst Cattle: Steady Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $142.72 +0.65* Hogs: Steady-$1 LR Futures: 50-100 LR Lean Equiv: $75.33 -0.69** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Cattle buyers and sellers could start to get serious about the parameters of cash potential Thursday. Our preliminary guess is that packers will cautiously open with bids around $117 to $119 on a live basis, well below asking prices of $121 plus. But betting on Friday business may be the safer way to roll the dice. Live and feeder futures seem likely to open with mixed price action as traders jockey ahead of cash clues.