DTN Midday Livestock Comments 01/24 11:31

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 01/24 11:31 A Slight Increase in Corn Sends Livestock Complex Lower The livestock complex again trades lower as a slightly increase in corn drives all three of the markets into red territory. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: It's been an uneventful, lackluster day for the livestock complex with the only substantial development throughout Tuesday's market thus far is that corn prices are slightly higher, which is pressuring livestock to trade lower. It will be interesting to see how the cash cattle market fares this afternoon as demand hasn't been strong Tuesday morning, but packers were aggressive in the market Monday afternoon. March corn is up 7 3/4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is down $0.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 10.69 points. LIVE CATTLE: The live cattle complex is in the same boat as the rest of the livestock market as weaker, lower tones dominate its market. The live cattle contracts are only trading mildly lower, and the spot April contract is holding above its 40-day moving average, which is a positive technical sign. The market doesn't expect to see much interest develop throughout the cash sector as trade will likely hold off until Thursday or potentially even Friday. Asking prices are noted in the South at $157, but remain unestablished in the North. Given that packers only bought 63,000 head in the cash market last week and are anticipated to process more than 645,000 head this week, it's likely that they'll need to become more aggressive in this week's cash market. February live cattle are down $0.40 at $157.07, April live cattle are down $0.15 at $160.40 and June live cattle are down $0.17 at $157.12. Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $0.47 ($270.97) and select down $0.72 ($253.77) with a movement of 63 loads (39.82 loads of choice, 8.90 loads of select, 5.03 loads of trim and 8.92 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: The feeder cattle and corn contracts are again playing a game of cat and mouse as the feeder cattle contracts sink lower and the corn market posts a mild $0.02 to $0.06 rally into Tuesday's noon hour. With the live cattle contracts not lending any support, and it being too early for the cash cattle market to swoop in potentially lend support, the feeder cattle market is eyeing every move the grain sector makes and trading adversely. March feeders are down $0.45 at $182.82, April feeders are down $0.42 at $187.50 and May feeders are down $0.65 at $191.60. LEAN HOGS: One would have hoped that, with pork cutout values closing almost a $1.00 higher Monday afternoon, the lean hog contracts would be able to trade higher, but, with the pressure of a mild rally in the corn market, traders are sending the lean hog contracts lower. February lean hogs are down $1.07 at $76.50, April lean hogs are down $1.32 at $84.12 and June lean hogs are down $1.35 at $101.02. The cash hog market hasn't seen much interest thus far throughout Tuesday's trade, but interest could grow stronger as the afternoon passes by. The projected lean hog index for Jan. 23 is down $0.02 at $72.11 and the actual index for Jan. 20 is down $0.52 at $72.13. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.21, with a weighted average of $70.06, ranging from $67.00 to $72.00 on 3,073 head and a five-day rolling average of $70.21. Pork cutouts are unavailable due to packer submission issues. ShayLe Stewart can be reached [email protected] (c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.