DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 08/19 06:25

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 08/19 06:25 Mixed Trade Expected Ahead of Report Cattle futures could not hold in positive territory even though cash traded higher as expected. Traders may have been preparing for the Cattle on Feed report. Hogs could not find anything to grab onto with cash under pressure and export sales were disappointing. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Higher Futures: Higher Live Equiv: $194.47 -$0.12* Hogs: Lower Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv: $127.99 +$1.44** *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: Live cattle had the cash market gain of $2.00 to $4.00 already factored in with traders seemingly looking ahead to the Cattle on Feed report today. Trading action might be two-sided as no one may want to position themselves overly long or short. Packers have had to pay up to obtain the required cattle to maintain the strong slaughter pace. It will be interesting to see what they will be doing in the weeks to come as their margins are running substantially below last year and are lower than the three-year average. It is unclear whether they have been able to differ delivery of many cattle this week. Boxed beef was mixed with choice up $0.05 and select down $0.42. Weekly export sales totaled 18,900 MT, up 29% from the previous week with China as the largest buyer. The Cattle of Feed report will be released this afternoon. The average estimate for on feed supply is 100.7%, placements of 98.5% and marketings of 97.1% of a year ago.