DTN Midday Livestock Comments          12/04 12:11

   Support Continues to be Hard to Come by for the Lean Hog and Live Cattle 
Contracts

   So far Friday's trade has been mostly uneventful with limited support 
surfacing and the only livestock contract trading higher being the feeder 
cattle market.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

   General Comments

   As the day gets closer and closer to the noon hour, the feeder cattle 
contracts are starting to see some support develop, but the lean hog contracts 
and live cattle contracts unfortunately cannot say the same. The cash cattle 
market has been pretty quiet with just some light clean up trade happening in 
the South. March corn is down 3 1/2 cents per bushel and January soybean meal 
is down $3.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 186.46 points and NASDAQ 
is up 75.70 points.

   LIVE CATTLE

   The live cattle contracts have flirted on and off with the idea of trading 
higher but right before the noon hour, the market is still trading modestly 
lower. December live cattle are down $0.67 at $108.92, February live cattle are 
down $0.57 at $112.00 and April live cattle are down $0.27 at $116.02. If boxed 
beef prices could have held strong through the end of the week, the cash cattle 
market might have had a chance of trading higher but with boxed beef prices 
scaling lower the cash market hasn't been too lively through Friday's trade. 
There was another light round of live cattle trade Friday morning in Texas for 
$110, but otherwise the market has been mostly quiet.

   Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $1.37 ($239.52) and select down 
$1.28 ($221.67) with a movement of 99 loads (60.92 loads of choice, 9.35 loads 
of select, 15.69 loads of trim and 12.85 loads of ground beef).

   FEEDER CATTLE

   Feeder cattle contracts are seeing some modest support develop in the 
marketplace which could also be somewhat fueled the morning's lower trending 
corn prices. January feeders are down $0.07 at $139.72, March feeders are down 
$0.10 at $139.42 and April feeders are down $0.20 at $140.90. It's unlikely 
that the market will shoot high enough to rally the short-term resistance plant 
of $141.00, but a mixed close isn't out of the question for Friday's afternoon 
trade.

   LEAN HOGS

   It's looking like the lean hog market is going to round out the week on a 
lower note as the market still neglects to find substantial support. December 
lean hogs are down $0.27 at $65.75, February lean hogs are down $0.85 at $66.07 
and April lean hogs are down $0.52 at $69.92. Even though the market is 
trending lower into Friday's afternoon trade, given that the market was able to 
trade higher earlier in the week Friday's close isn't looking like its going to 
move far below the week's prior sideways trend.

   The projected lean hog index for 12/2/2020 is down $0.16 at $66.55, and the 
actual index for 12/1/2020 is up $0.04 at $66.71. Hog prices are lower on the 
National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.11 with a weighted averaged $56.16, 
ranging from $52.00 to $58.50 on 6,263 head and a five-day rolling average of 
$56.32. Pork cutouts total 228.84 loads with 199.90 loads of pork cuts and 
28.94 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $3.49, $79.94.

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

    

   **

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