DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 07/02 06:27

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 07/02 06:27 Mixed Trading Activity Before the Holiday Cattle and hog futures diverged Thursday. Cattle seems to gain strength as grain prices faded throughout the day. Hogs traded significantly higher for a period of time likely as a result of good export sales but fell hard, closing in negative territory. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Steady Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $211.30 -1.28* Hogs: Lower Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv: $120.66 +0.06** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue. (The Live Cattle Equiv. Index has been updated to depict recent changes in live cattle weights and grading percentages.) ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Cash prices did not change Thursday trading similar to what they had done earlier in the week. Trade in the South was steady to $2.00 lower while sales in the North averaged $1.00 higher. Most of the cash activity may be finished for the week. The same is probably true for futures as traders may not have much interest in being very active prior to the holiday weekend. Boxed beef prices continue to plummet with choice cuts down $3.64 and select cuts down $2.34. Boxed beef prices have fallen to the lowest level they have been since late April. The steep decline has not yet had any real impact on cash cattle other than limiting upside potential. Export sales were not very good with sales down 28% from the previous week and down 17% for the four-week average. Markets will be closed on Monday for an extended holiday weekend.