DTN Midday Livestock Comments 10/26 11:30

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 10/26 11:30 Livestock Push Higher Into Wednesday's Afternoon After closing mostly lower Tuesday afternoon, the cattle contracts are back to rallying come Wednesday. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The livestock complex is trending higher into Wednesday's afternoon as traders are hopeful that the cash cattle market will indeed trade higher this week, and hog producers are already seeing ample interest in their cash market. It's likely that the cash cattle market won't see any substantial trade develop until Thursday or later. December corn is down 1 3/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $7.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 286.62 points. LIVE CATTLE: The live cattle contracts are back to trading higher after the market closed lower Tuesday afternoon. December live cattle are up $0.07 at $153.37, February live cattle are up $0.07 at $156.77 and April live cattle are up $0.17 at $159.42. Tuesday's inability to close higher doesn't mean that traders are putting a cap on this market's upside, but rather they're going to need to see fundamental support before they push the contracts any higher. The cash cattle market hasn't seen any action develop yet and with feedlot's gunning for higher prices again this week, it's likely that the market doesn't see any attention until Thursday. Asking prices in the South are noted at $151 to $152, but are still undeveloped in the North. The Fed Cattle Exchange Auction held Wednesday reported six lots (all in Texas), totaling 1,120 head of cattle, none of which sold. Opening prices were at $147, high bids had a range of $147 to $148, but none of these bids met reserve prices of $150. Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.70 ($260.73) and select up $2.08 ($229.43) with a movement of 96 loads (48.87 loads of choice, 15.38 loads of select, 13.17 loads of trim and 18.17 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: With the corn complex trading mostly lower into Wednesday's afternoon, and the live cattle complex treading modestly higher, the feeder cattle contracts are trading higher as well. November feeders are up $0.72 at $178.65, January feeders are up $0.85 at $181.10 and March feeders are up $0.77 at $182.77. Throughout Tuesday's afternoon, sale barns saw a little more interest as buyers are realizing that there are fewer cattle to be had this fall and are starting to get worried about procuring all the cattle they'd hoped to get. Even so, they've got to get them bought right in order to breakeven. LEAN HOGS: With the extremely supportive nature of this week's cash hog market, the lean hog contracts are trading fully higher into Wednesday's afternoon. December lean hogs are up $0.70 at $89.15, February lean hogs are up $0.75 at $91.42 and April lean hogs are up $0.40 at $94.35. Packers are looking at this year's upcoming holiday season and noticing that, with the spike in turkey prices, there may be an opportunity to sell more pork during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Needless to say, if the opportunity does indeed present itself, they want to have enough product on hand to supply stores. The projected lean hog index for Oct. 25 is down $0.34 at $94.47, and the actual index for Oct. 24 is up $0.14 at $94.81. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $8.23 with a weighted average of $98.31, ranging from $85.00 to $104.00 on 17,228 head and a five-day rolling average of $94.80. Pork cutouts total 191.80 loads with 169.75 loads of pork cuts and 22.05 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $1.78, $100.27. ShayLe Stewart can be reached [email protected] ** Cattlemen are eager for supply and demand mechanics to swing their way, but the market isn't completely free of hurdles as bearish concerns about the U.S. and global economies loom. Hear DTN Livestock Analyst ShayLe Stewart's thoughts on the 2023 cattle market at the all-virtual DTN Ag Summit on Dec. 12-13. Full details available at http://www.dtn.com/agsummit (c) Copyright 2022 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.