Thursday markets
The cattle contracts rallied throughout Thursday’s complex while the lean hog complex closed lower as it couldn’t shake the day’s lousy export report. December corn is down 11 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $13.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1,201.43 points.
It was a redeeming day for the live cattle complex as the contracts shot higher and recovered almost all of what Wednesday lost, and a few more cash cattle sales were reported. December live cattle closed $1.50 higher at $153.07, February live cattle closed $0.87 higher at $155.02, and April live cattle closed $0.72 higher at $158.50. There was a slight pullback in choice cuts as the market is unable to brake $265.00. There were just a few more cash cattle sales reported in the North for $153 live or $242 dressed, both fully steady with Wednesday’s trade. So far this week, Southern live deals have been marked at $150, fully steady with last week’s weighted averages. Northern dressed sales were at mostly $242, also fully steady with last week’s weighted average basis Nebraska.
Thursday’s slaughter is estimated at 129,000 head, 1,000 head more than a week ago and 13,000 head more than a year ago.
Beef net sales of 13,700 metric tons (mt) for 2022 were primarily for South Korea (7,100 mt), Japan (4,700 mt) and Taiwan (1,800 mt).
Thursday’s actual slaughter data shared that, for the week ending Oct. 29, steers averaged 928 pounds, which was 3 pounds heavier than a week ago and 8 pounds heavier than a year ago. Heifers for the same week averaged 847 lbs. 1 lb. less than a week ago but 5 pounds more than a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed mixed: choice down $1.40 ($263.27) and select up $1.61 ($236.83) with a movement of 95 loads (58.83 loads of choice, 14.36 loads of select, 5.18 loads of trim and 16.13 loads of ground beef). The choice/select spread sits at $26.44.
Feeder cattle
As the day traded on throughout the afternoon, the corn complex fell lower and lower as the day’s closing bell drew near, which helped feeders close higher. It was an extremely strong day for the feeder cattle complex as the nearby contracts closed over 200 points higher, and the deferred months ranged anywhere from 110 to 180 higher—pushing the contracts further away from their 40-day moving average. January feeders closed $2.05 higher at $181.70, March feeders closed $2.00 higher at $183.80, and April feeders closed $1.80 higher at $186.95.
At Winter Livestock Auction in Pratt, Kansas, compared to last week and at their midsession point, steer calves weighing 400-700 lbs. traded unevenly steady, but heifer calves weighing 400-700 lbs. sold steady to $2 lower. Feeder cattle supply over 600 lbs. was 57%.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for Nov. 9: down 79 cents, $175.51. — ShayLe Stewart, DTN livestock analyst
