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DTN Midday Livestock Comments 09/11 12:01

11 Sep 2019
DTN Midday Livestock Comments 09/11 12:01 Cattle Moving Upward, While Hogs Weaken Cattle prices continue to etch upward as the positive momentum established Tuesday continues to flow into Wednesday on both the live cattle and feeder cattle side of things. On the other hand, hog futures have had a rough morning with nearby and out-front contracts all sharply lower. By ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst General Comments Cattle prices continue to etch upward as the positive momentum established Tuesday continues to flow into Wednesday on both the live cattle and feeder cattle side of things. On the other hand, hog futures have had a rough morning with nearby and out-front contracts all sharply lower. Tough trade relations with the tariffs China is imposing on pork products is hindering the market fiercely. December corn futures are 2 1/2 cents lower. Dow Jones is up 9 points, and the NASDAQ is up 52 points. LIVE CATTLE: Strong close Tuesday, strong open Wednesday and as of midday things are still looking optimistic. Live cattle prices opened Wednesday morning at $96.46 and have since jumped up to a high of $98.30. A handful of bids have circulated around Wednesday morning, but it's still likely that the bulk of this week's trade will develop sometime Thursday, or more likely, late Friday. Live bids of $97 to $98 in Kansas and Texas remain, while live bids of $100 in Nebraska have been offered and dressed prices for Nebraska sit at $157. Wednesday at the Fed Cattle Exchange, 636 head of fats were offered, none sold. Boxed Beef cutouts are sharply lower at midday, especially on choice products, which are down $3.43 ($221.95), and select products are down $1.78 ($199.2). Wednesday offers light to moderate box beef movement with there being 54 loads of choice cuts, 27 loads of select cuts, 10 loads of trimmings and 14 loads of ground beef. FEEDER CATTLE: The October contract opened Wednesday morning at $131.225 and has since then surged nearly $4 to $134.725. Out-front and nearby contracts alike followed the same momentum, as everything is reading green through May of 2020. How fat cattle trades later this week could largely influence whether this spike in the market has officially established the bottom, or if there's another support plane to be found. LEAN HOGS: Lean hog market fundamentals continue to be weak, and unfortunately with the hefty tariffs imposed from China, a bright future isn't on the horizon. The October contract opened Wednesday morning at $61.300 and have since then fallen to $59.850. Cash prices followed the board's lead Wednesday morning, with the weighted average price being $1.46 lower at $47.31, which ranged from $44.00 to $49.00 on 8,425 head reported sold. The lean hog index for 9/10 is just slightly lower, down $1.14 at $61.85. Pork cutout values have increased $0.72, now sitting at $72.71. ShayLe Stewart can be reached at shayle.stewart@dtn.com (BE) Copyright 2019 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.