DTN Midday Livestock Comments          09/16 12:08

   Livestock Trade Mixed Monday 

   Trade slowly opened Monday morning with a quiet, leisurely welcome. Neither 
significant gains nor losses have been seen on any livestock front, as trade 
has mostly been uneventful. Corn, however, has seen relatively strong gains 
Monday morning despite the rest of the market's indecisive trade. 

By ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

General Comments

   Live cattle, feeder cattle and the lean hog market have all bounced around 
Monday morning giving the impression that the entire complex's relaxed Monday 
morning attitude has been absorbed. December corn is up 3 3/4 cents. The Dow 
Jones is down 168.05 points, and the NASDAQ is down 40.19 points. 

   LIVE CATTLE: 

   Monday's live cattle opened at $98.300 and has since then drifted down a tad 
to $98.275. Overall the live cattle market has seen little action as of midday 
Monday. Formula totals for last week were higher in all three major feeding 
states: Kansas 90,699 (up 10,397), Nebraska 69,272 (up 4,654), Texas 96,120 (up 
11,949). Total trade volume was also higher in all three major feeding states: 
Kansas 98,532 (up 6,297), Nebraska 90,307 (up 3,175), Texas 103,032 (up 3,048). 
New show lists appear to be smaller in all areas. Bids and asking prices have 
yet to be established and significant trade volume will likely be delayed until 
the second half of the week. 

   Boxed beef cut outs at midday are mixed with $0.28 gains on choice 
($221.16), and $2.65 losses on select ($195.95). Monday's offering of boxed 
beef movement has been slightly lighter with 60 loads total (30.92 loads of 
choice cuts, 14.92 loads of select cuts, 3.64 loads of trimmings and 10.23 
loads of ground beef). 

   FEEDER CATTLE: 

   Feeder cattle seem to be taking Monday morning's dismal trade the hardest. 
Nearby and deferred contracts all show red digits as the noon hour approaches. 
Feeder cattle opened Monday morning at $134.800 and have since then grown 
slightly to $136.325. Nevertheless, the overall feel of the feeder cattle 
market come Monday midday is mixed, uncertain, and yet to really be 
established. 

   LEAN HOGS: 

   Lean hogs opened Monday morning at $66.025 and have slid down to $64.550. As 
traders look for confirmation that China will indeed be lifting tariffs on 
pork, the market has nowhere but sideways to trade until real action is taken. 
Nearby contracts read slightly lower, whereas May 2020 through August 2020 
looks somewhat optimistic. 

   The projected lean hog index for 9/13/19 is at $58.48, which is down $1.23, 
the actual lean hog index for 9/12/19 came out to $59.71, which was down $0.98. 
Prices are down slightly on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.51 
at weighted average of $44.44, ranging from $44.00-46.00, on 3,034 head sold. 
Pork cutout values came in $1.62 higher at $69.83. Pork cutout total loads came 
to 138.62, with 132.03 loads of pork cuts and 6.59 loads of trimmings.

   ShayLe Stewart can be reached at shayle.stewart@dtn.com 


(BE)

Copyright 2019 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.