DTN Closing Livestock Comment 03/29 16:20

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 03/29 16:20 Cattle Futures End First Quarter in a State of Collapse The cattle complex closed sharply lower, hammered by a combination of long liquidation, technical-selling and sharply higher corn prices. On the other hand, lean hog futures settled narrowly mixed as traders positioned ahead of the quarterly hog inventory. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS Light-to-moderate cattle trading developed in several areas before the holiday break. Live sales in parts of Texas were mostly $121, as much as $5 lower than last week. Dressed sales in the North were mostly $193-$194, $6 to $7 lower than last week. The national hog base closed off $0.36 compared with the prior day settlement ($45-$51, weighted average $48.45). From Friday to Thursday, livestock futures scored the following changes: Apr LC off $2.30; Jun LC off $3.63; Mar FC off $0.10; May FC off $3.28; Apr LH off $1.17; May LH up $2.60. Corn futures closed $0.14 higher, supported by smaller-than-expected planting intentions (88 million acres, 1.3 million below the average guess). The stock market closed higher with the Dow up 254 and the Nasdaq better by 114.