DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 04/12 06:15

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 04/12 06:15 Cash Cattle Expected to Trade Lower Friday After spending some time in negative territory, cattle futures were able to gain some traction and move higher Thursday. Technical support held for the time being. Hogs struggled to close higher after the huge price decline Wednesday. The packers were not aggressive as most of their needs had been purchased. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Lower Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $221.68 -$0.11* Hogs: Lower Futures: Mixed Lean Equiv: $107.26 +$1.04** *Based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue. (The Live Cattle Equiv. Index has been updated to depict recent changes in live cattle weights and grading percentages.) ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue. GENERAL COMMENTS: Cattle futures were impressive Thursday. Not from the standpoint of a large price increase, but from the ability to close higher despite the headwinds of lower cash and more avian flu discovered in dairy cattle. Some initial light cash trade developed in the South at $2.00 lower than last week. This may have set the tone for cash trade Friday as packers do not intend to be aggressive buyers. Packer margins are below a year ago and substantially below the three-year average. Further cases of avian flu were discovered in North Carolina and South Dakota but did not adversely impact the market this time as it still has not been found in beef cattle. Weekly export sales were negative at 13,6700 metric tons (mt), down 27% from the previous week. Boxed beef was mixed with choice up $0.14 and select down $0.87.