DTN Midday Livestock Comments          01/17 12:12

   Finding Some Common Ground  

   Finding some steady ground, livestock contracts trade lower but only in a 
subtle nature. It appears the emotional shake of Wednesday's trade agreement is 
starting to subside, and trade is finding comfort at slightly lower, steady 
sideways prices. It wouldn't be unlikely to see the rest of the day pass by 
without a whole lot of market action between here and closing.

By ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

General Comments

   It appears the emotional shake of Wednesday's trade agreement is starting to 
subside, and trade is finding comfort at slightly lower, steady sideways 
prices. It wouldn't be unlikely to see the rest of the day pass by without a 
whole lot of market action between here and closing. March corn is up 10 cents 
per bushel and March soybean meal is down $0.50. 

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 58.03 points and NASDAQ is up 11.36 
points. 

   LIVE CATTLE 

   A snow storm is anticipated to hit most of feeding country sometime Friday, 
which will be accompanied by freezing rain and frigid temperatures. Some of 
Thursday's early trade could have been because feeders knew that roads were 
going to be slick over the weekend and cattle were going to be stressed 
throughout the storm. A few bids; mostly clean-up in nature, have popped up at 
$199 in Nebraska, and $198 in Kansas, but for the most part packers are sitting 
back, feeling like most of the business is done for the week at this point. 
Though the board is still reading losses, it's seeming like common ground has 
been found and the emotion from Wednesday is wearing off. February live cattle 
are down $0.20 at $125.92, April live cattle are up $0.45 at $126.87 and June 
live cattle are up $0.05 at $118.90. 

   Boxed beef cutouts are higher: choice up $1.09 ($213.99) and select up $1.98 
($213.45) with a movement of 60 loads (38.90 loads of choice, 5.14 loads of 
select, 9.82 loads of trim and 6.60 loads of ground beef). 

   FEEDER CATTLE 

   Feeder cattle contracts are still trading on the lesser side of steady, but 
at least Friday's morning trade isn't a complete nose-dive, plunge lower. 
January feeders are down $0.60 at $144.82, March feeders are down $0.47 at 
$144.35 and April feeders are down $0.62 at $147.17. Seeing that fat cattle 
trade is most likely done for the week, leaves little room for the feeder 
cattle contracts to latch onto some late-week gains and trade higher. 

   LEAN HOGS 

   After Thursday's lower trade, Friday has opened to a mostly steady market, 
trading just $0.17 to $0.32 lower on most contracts. February lean hogs are up 
$0.27 at $67.15, April lean hogs are down $0.32 at $73.45 and May lean hogs are 
down $0.32 at $80.40. It appears the sourness from Wednesday's trade agreement 
is starting to settle as contracts trade mostly sideways. Throughout different 
parts of the morning there has been phases of buyer interest as traders look 
for opportunities to get into the market. 

   The projected lean hog index for 1/16/2020 is up $0.30 at $60.45, and the 
actual for 1/15/2020 is up $0.62 at $60.15. Hog prices are higher on the 
National Direct Morning Hog Report, up $0.15 with a weighted average of $51.37, 
ranging from $48.00 to $51.68 on 4,138 head sold and five-day rolling average 
of $51.07. Pork cutouts total 234.07 loads with 211.58 loads of pork cuts and 
22.49 loads of trim. Pork cutout prices: down $2.82 at $72.63. 

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


(CZ)

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