DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 11/20 06:18

DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 11/20 06:18 Cattle Futures Continue to Consolidate It certainly was a victory for cattle futures to close mixed and nearly unchanged yesterday. Traders are assessing their positions after the steady rise of futures over the past two months and the upcoming Cattle-on-Feed report due out on Friday. By Robin Schmahl DTN Dairy Analyst Cattle: Steady Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $153.56 -0.08* Hogs: Lower Futures: Higher Lean Equiv: $89.52 -4.47** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: It certainly was a victory for cattle futures to close mixed and nearly unchanged yesterday. Traders are assessing their positions after the steady rise of futures over the past two months and the upcoming Cattle-on-Feed report due out on Friday. Steady prices are keeping traders with long positions from liquidating, but they are also making them nervous. Traders resolve will be tested over the next three days. Buyers have been shy about posting bids as they need more direction before stepping out. Feedlots are willing to sell from $117 to $118 in the South and $185-188 in the North. Packers might have been hoping technical selling would erupt providing the opportunity to lower bids from last week. The market should show some better indication of potential business today. The premium of futures to cash and slight weakness in cut-outs may begin to have a bearish influence of the market.