DTN Midday Livestock Comments 03/13 12:15

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 03/13 12:15 Contracts Take Advantage of Expanded Limits The only positive note that's coming with Friday's trade is that trade for the week is done in a couple of hours, and hopefully next week will lead us to more answers surrounding the coronavirus. By ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst General Comments As the day progresses, contracts continue to fall lower into the day's expanded trading limits. As a whole, live cattle contracts are trading $3.45 to $4.50 lower, feeder cattle contracts are trading $4.77 to $6.75 lower and the lean hog market is trading $3.87 to $4.50 lower. As the fear and worry of the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, livestock contracts are taking a major hit. May corn is up 3/4 cent per bushel and May soybean meal is down $1.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 344.16 points and NASDAQ is up 104.98 points. LIVE CATTLE The live cattle contracts are tough to look at. Not because they've suffered greater losses than the other livestock contracts, but because from the April 2020 contract to the December 2020 contract, nothing is trading over $100. April live cattle are down $4.50 at $95.57, June live cattle are down $4.25 at $90.00 and August live cattle are $4.12 at $89.55. The $100 threshold is a big deal for cattlemen; both mentally and financially, and as contracts wane lower, good news isn't looming for the cash market. I would like to highlight the boxed beef prices, however. Thankfully the demand for beef has yet to dwindle and this shouldn't be overlooked. Beef demand is what producers, feeders and packers work for. If they don't have a product they can market, it makes the rest of what they do extremely difficult. In the last year, producers have fought long and hard against the fake meat battle, and in times of utter chaos, beef is still sought after. There's no doubt that the markets are going to be volatile for a while, and the economy will most likely be stressed, but cattlemen stand strong, beef is essential to America. Boxed beef cutouts are higher: choice up $0.84 ($206.85) and select up $4.23 ($202.11) with a movement of 79 loads (51.77 loads of choice, 7.02 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 20.19 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE Feeder cattle contracts are taking full advantage of the limits expanded position as contracts fall anywhere from $4.67 to $6.75. March feeders are down $5.25 at $113.57, April feeders are down $6.37 at $112.65 and May feeders are down $6.72 at $114.00. For the feeders in a position to buy calves at sale barns, the market is flush with opportunity. But in the case of sellers, different sales are reacting to the market differently as some barns struggle to offer enough calves to interest buyers, and sale barns who have had sales later in the week have had the board's volatility against them. LEAN HOGS Pork cutout values have still weathered the storm exceptionally well, but the cash hog market dipped lower Friday morning. April lean hogs are down $4.50 at $56.37, June lean hogs are down $4.50 at $71.30 and July lean hogs are down $4.50 at $72.50. Like the other contracts, the lean hogs market doesn't have any other option but to trade lower in this current situation. The projected lean hog index for 3/12/2020 is up $0.54 at $58.86, and the actual index for 3/11/2020 is up $0.57 at $58.32. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.13 with a weighted average of $54.03, ranging from $47.00 to $56.00 on 5,885 head sold and five-day rolling average of $52.74. Pork cutouts totaled 233.15 loads with 221.26 loads of pork cuts and 11.90 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.85, $70.04. ShayLe Stewart can be reached [email protected] (CZ) Copyright 2020 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.