DTN Midday Livestock Comments 05/27 11:47

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 05/27 11:47 Time Ticks Slowly Ahead of the Long Weekend for the Livestock Complex It's been a lackadaisical day for the livestock complex as the markets are uneventfully thus far Friday. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Largely, it's an uneventful day, as the livestock market longs for the weekend ahead. Trade will likely continue to roll throughout Friday afternoon and pick up dynamically come next week. July corn is up 13 1/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $4.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 357.57 points. LIVE CATTLE: The nearby live cattle contracts are keeping with their descend, while the deferred months see a little profit taking. June live cattle are down $0.20 at $132.20, August live cattle are down $0.37 at $132.22 and October live cattle are down $0.12 at $138.05. Given how much of the market's premium has eroded in the deferred months, any little victory for the back months will be warmly welcomed as, fundamentally speaking, the market should garnish higher prices as supplies of market-ready cattle will thinner then. Friday's cash cattle market hasn't seen an ounce of interest as the week's business is appearing to be done with. We know that this week's volume will be considerably thinner than weeks past, as packers have opted to pull on their supplies of cattle committed to them via deferred delivery instead of supporting the cash market. Throughout the week, Southern live cattle have traded for $137 ($1.00 lower) and Northern dressed cattle traded for $223 ($3.00 lower than last week). Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $0.96 ($264.93) and select up $2.26 ($246.69) with a movement of 68 loads (28.68 loads of choice, 6.14 loads of select, 5.10 loads of trim and 27.91 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: The feeder cattle contracts are keeping with their descend as the market retracts thanks to Friday's rally in the corn market. With the corn complex rallying $0.11 to $0.12, and with the live cattle contracts aiding no substantial support in their nearby contracts and showing less and less confidence in the deferred months as the day trades on -- it's likely that Friday closes on a lower note for the feeder cattle market. August feeders are down $0.65 at $166.02, September feeders are down $0.60 at $169.12 and October feeders are down $0.85 at $171.70. LEAN HOGS: After rallying aggressively through Thursday's trade, the nearby lean hog contracts are trading lower while the deferred months add to their position. June lean hogs are down $0.85 at $110.25, July lean hogs are down $0.12 at $111.70 and August lean hogs are down $0.12 at $110.00. Given how bold and aggressive the market was earlier in the week, it's likely that the market drifts through the day not doing much and lets next week decide where the market shall go. Monitoring pork demand after the Memorial Day weekend will be key as it will strongly influence the market's nearby trajectory. Before heading into the long weekend, it is important to note that Germany has confirmed that a domestic pig farm near the French border has been confirmed to have African swine fever. The projected lean hog index for May 26 is up $0.52 at $104.93, and the actual index for May 25 is up $0.52 at $104.40. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, down $2.80 with a weighed average of $108.54, ranging from $107.50 to $116.50 on 3,591 head and a five-day rolling average of $111.08. Pork cutouts total 182.08 loads with 162.82 loads of pork cuts and 19.27 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.39, $108.52. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2022 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.