DTN Closing Livestock Comment 12/09 15:18

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 12/09 15:18 Live Cattle Self-Correct with Triple-Digit Gains With the upcoming holiday meat features taking shape, packers' shifting demand has influenced their bids for hogs and cattle. The futures charts, however, have less confident direction and explored wide price ranges through the week. Elaine Kub Contributing Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS Gains in the live cattle futures market Friday look impressive on a one-day basis but were mostly just a correction of previous losses. Feeder cattle and lean hog futures posted milder performances. In the cash cattle market, light trade was reported in parts of the South at $155 to $156, which was $1 to $2 higher than the rest of the week's business and fully steady to $1 higher than last week's weighted averages. Northern dressed business has been marked at mostly $247, which was $2 lower than last week's weighted averages. The National Direct Afternoon Hog Report showed purchased swine prices up $1.96 to a weighted average of $83.07 on 10,209 head. Prices ranged from $74 to $85, and the five-day rolling average is now $83.41. December corn moved up 2 3/4 cents to $6.34 3/4 per bushel and January soybean meal closed up $5.20 per ton to $471.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 305.22 points and the NASDAQ was down 74.17 points.