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DTN Midday Livestock Comments 10/23 11:49
Traders Help Push the Livestock Contracts Higher
It will be a busy afternoon for the cattle complex with the fed cash cattle
market still waiting to trade and the monthly Cattle on Feed report set to be
released.
ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst
GENERAL COMMENTS:
Thanks to ample trader support, the livestock complex is trading mostly
higher into Friday's noon hour. Currently, a single bid of $226 live is being
offered in Kansas, but no cash cattle trade has developed yet. Do remember that
the Cattle on Feed report is set to be released this afternoon. December corn
is down 4 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down $0.10. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average is down 516.14 points and the NASDAQ is up 36.99
points.
LIVE CATTLE:
Tick, tock, tick, tock -- the market continues to wait, seeming to let time
pass ever so slowly as traders watch to see what's going to develop in this
week's fed cash cattle market. Thankfully, traders still believe that the
market will see fed cash cattle prices trade higher, but that trade hasn't
developed as of yet. Bids are currently on the table in Kansas at $226, but
otherwise, no bids have surfaced. Asking prices are noted at $232 in the
Southern Plains and at $360 in Nebraska. There's a strong likelihood that the
market doesn't see any trade develop until after this afternoon's Cattle on
Feed report is released.
Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $1.83 ($367.64) and select down
$0.46 ($349.95) with a movement of 97 loads (79.71 loads of choice, 3.71 loads
of select, 5.68 loads of trim and 7.65 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:
The feeder cattle complex is also trading higher as traders are thankful to
see the live cattle complex trading higher. They fully believe that the fed
cash cattle market will trade stronger this week too, and that Friday's Cattle
on Feed report will be bullish as well. October feeders are up $2.45 at
$348.55, November feeders are up $1.70 at $348.62 and January feeders are up
$1.95 at $345.95. So long as the live cattle complex continues to trade higher
through the afternoon, it's likely that the feeder cattle complex will too.
LEAN HOGS:
The lean hog complex has also found some minor trader support as its
contracts are trading higher into Friday's afternoon. December lean hogs are up
$0.10 at $65.65, February lean hogs are up $0.45 at $67.87 and April lean hogs
are up $0.37 at $72.82. And while, yes, pork cutout values may be up slightly,
it's more so the support from trades that's helping the market Friday, as a
minor $0.78 rally late in the week doesn't do much for the overall picture of
demand. The projected lean hog index for 10/22/2026 is down $0.99 at $71.16,
and the actual index for 10/21/2026 is down $0.67 at $72.15. Hog prices on the
Daily Direct Morning Hog Report are unavailable due to confidentiality.
However, we can see that only 243 head have traded and that the market's
five-day rolling average now sits at $67.34. Pork cutouts total 193.63 loads
with 173.58 loads of pork cuts and 20.05 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up
$0.78, $76.01.
ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com
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