DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/25 11:37

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 11/25 11:37 Sluggish Post-Holiday Trades Pushes Livestock Complex Lower The livestock complex is drifting lower into Friday's afternoon, as the contracts aren't seeing the support, they need to justify higher trade. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The livestock complex is drifting lower into Friday's afternoon as the market longs for trader support and interest, but understands that most traders have checked out for long holiday weekend. The cash cattle market has seen any more trade develop and its looking like this week's cash market has seen most of what is going to see. December corn is up 4 3/4 cents per bushel and January soybean meal is down $1.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 178.34 points. LIVE CATTLE: The live cattle complex is also trending lower into Friday's afternoon as the market sees little interest from traders as many are out for a long holiday weekend. The cash cattle market hasn't seen much more action report and no bids have been renewed. Some late trade has been reported from Wednesday afternoon, but other than that, the cash market is still stagnant. Throughout the week, Northern cattle traded for $245 dressed, which is $3.00 higher than last week's weighted average. Southern live cattle traded for $154 to $155, which is roughly $4.00 higher than last week's weighted average. The futures market will likely keep with this sideways chop through closing and wait until next week to reassess the marketplace. December live cattle are down $0.20 at $153.15, February live cattle are down $0.37 at $155.05 and April live cattle are down $0.25 at $158.87. Beef net sales of 12,900 mt for 2022 were primarily for South Korea (4,600 mt), China (4,100 mt) and Japan (1,700 mt). Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.61 ($251.95) and select up $2.60 ($235.93) with a movement of 39 loads (24.12 loads of choice, 3.23 loads of select, 7.07 loads of ground beef and 4.54 loads of trim). FEEDER CATTLE: The feeder cattle complex is trading lower as the grain market is fronting a modest rally heading into Friday's afternoon. January feeders are down $0.80 at $178.45, March feeders are down $0.72 at $181.62 and April feeders are down $0.67 at $185.37. With not much news driving the markets ahead of the week's end, it's likely that the feeder cattle complex will close with this same lame dog tone. LEAN HOGS: The lean hog complex is keeping with its steady to somewhat lower trend heading into Friday's afternoon. With some traders taking in a long-holiday weekend, there's not much news driving the livestock contracts ahead of Friday's end. Come next week, the market will be looking for early Christmas buying from retailers and is hopeful that pork cutout prices may see some support from that. December lean hogs are down $0.22 at $83.77, February lean hogs are down $0.25 at $88.55 and April lean hogs are down $0.50 at $94.05. Pork net sales of 45,800 mt for 2022 were primarily for Mexico (18,200 mt), Japan (10,200 mt) and Canada (4,100 mt). The projected lean hog index is delayed from the source. Hog prices on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report average $82.39, ranging from $78.50 to $87.50 on 2,380 head and a five-day rolling average of $82.00. Pork cutouts total 143.39 loads with 126.34 loads of pork cuts and 17.05 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.82, $87.54. ShayLe Stewart can be reached at [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.