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DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 01/08 06:27

8 Jan 2020
DTN Early Word Opening Livestock 01/08 06:27 Cattle Futures Look for Support Following Early-Week Volatility Following wide price swings over the last three trading sessions in all livestock trade, traders are likely to try to establish a longer-range market pattern through the end of the week. By Rick Kment DTN Analyst Cattle: Higher Futures: Mixed Live Equiv $140.11 -0.03* Hogs: Steady Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv $78.40 -1.27** * based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue GENERAL COMMENTS: Mixed price movement is expected in cattle futures early Wednesday morning with limited short-term market changes developing in order to cause traders to quickly adjust to the complex. Cash cattle interest still remains quiet with packers still not showing bids early Wednesday morning. Although a few early asking prices are available at $127 live in the South and $203 and higher dressed in the North, the focus on end-of-week trade activity is developing. With packers tasked with securing full-week procurements through the next two months without a major holiday approaching, the expectation is that active trade will be pushed back to the end of the week with the tighter cattle supplies expected likely to keep cattle priced aggressively. Even though holiday demand has wrapped up, there is still a lot of focus on the ability to continue to move large beef stocks through domestic and export channels through the first few months of 2020. Combined with tighter market ready beef supplies, continued price support is expected in the near future. Wednesday slaughter runs are expected near 121,000 head.