Cattle mixed waiting for cash trade

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were mixed, mostly lower, ahead of cash business. April and June had additional support from fund buying, the higher midday boxed beef and good weekend clearance over the weekend while deferreds picked up extra pressure from profit taking and the lower corn. April was up $.20 at $94.40 and June was $.05 higher at $92.32.

Feeder cattle were mostly lower on profit taking, spreading and contracts’ premium to the cash index. March was down $.17 at $102.35 and April was up $.02 at $106.02.

Direct cash cattle markets were quiet with widespread business not expected until Thursday or Friday. Asking prices are around $94 in the South and $148 + North with bids at $90 to $91 on the live basis in Texas and Kansas. Boxed beef was firm on light to moderate demand and offerings with Choice up $.21 at $149.50 and Select $.91 higher at $149.02. Tuesday’s cattle slaughter was estimated at 123,000 head, up 3,000 from a week ago and steady with a year ago.

Hogs were lower on the mostly steady to lower cash, Monday’s lower cutout and most contracts premium to cash. Technical weakness and spreading out of the April contract into June were additional features. Both April and June traded below the 10-day moving average. April was down $.40 at $72.40 and May was $.87 lower at $77.92.

Bellies were higher in light trade on spreading, solid demand and oversold signals. March was up $.50 at $93 and May was $.77 higher at $92.80.

Cash hogs were mixed with influences from both good packer demand and questions over wholesale demand. The Eastern Cornbelt was down $.54 with a weighted average of $70.33, the Western Belt was up $.24 at $73.75 and Iowa/Southern Minnesota was $.32 higher at $73.86. Butcher hogs at the terminals were mostly steady to $2 lower with an instance of $1 higher and tops at $46 to $53. Missouri Direct butcher trade was steady at $65 to $67. The pork carcass cutout value was down for the third day in a row, $.12 lower at $74.60 in slow to moderate trade with mostly light demand and light to moderate offerings. The estimated hog slaughter of 402,000 head was down 30,000 from last week and 16,000 less than last year. Monday’s kill was revised down 5,000 head to 409,000.