Wednesday markets
The livestock complex is trading mixed into Wednesday afternoon as the live cattle, feeder cattle and lean hog contracts are trending lower while it waits to see how the market’s cash cattle trade fares. No bids have been renewed at this point, and it wouldn’t be unlikely to see trade delayed until Thursday.
Packers love when chaos flows through the market right ahead of their usual time of bidding. With Tuesday’s gut-turning inflation announcement, combined with the potential rail strike, the market sits with plenty of chaos right now. No bids have hit the market at this point, and it’s looking like packers are trying to play hardball to pressure feedlots. However, when feedlots look at the market’s current grading data and daily slaughter estimates, they can’t deny knowing that packers need cattle, and that gives them a window of opportunity to push prices higher.
October live cattle are down $0.42 at $144.37, December live cattle are down $0.37 at $150.07 and February live cattle are down $0.20 at $154.50. It wouldn’t be unlikely to see bids arise Wednesday afternoon, but it’s equally as likely that trade waits until Thursday to develop.
Boxed beef prices are lower: Choice is down $2.46 ($254.20), and Select is down $2.77 ($230.81) with a movement of 123 loads (82.28 loads of Choice, 23.64 loads of Select, 8.79 loads of trim and 7.93 loads of ground beef).
Feeder cattle
As the corn market drifts lower, the feeder cattle market is attempting to take back some of the position that Tuesday lost. September feeders are up $1 at $180.45, October feeders are up $1.32 at $181.85 and November feeders are up $1.02 at $183.37. The live cattle market isn’t lending any support as its complex drifts lower, and packers are again playing hardball in the cash market as no bids have surfaced. Regardless, the feeder cattle market is making the most of the corn market’s weakness but could trade even higher than it is now if the live cattle market was supportive in its nature too. — ShayLe Stewart, DTN livestock analyst
