DTN Midday Livestock Comments          05/07 11:47

   Cattle Drift Lower While Hog Contracts Find Mixed Support

   Although some higher cash cattle trade has been noted in both regions, the 
cattle contracts continue to trade lower.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   Although there have been some positive developments in the fed cash cattle 
market, that has yet to benefit the cattle contracts, as currently both the 
live cattle and feeder cattle contracts are trading lower into midday Thursday. 
Some light trade has been marked in the North at $402, which is $3.00 higher 
than last week's weighted average. Some light trade has been noted in the South 
at $256 to $257, which is $2.00 higher than last week's weighted average. July 
corn is down 2 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is up $0.60. The Dow 
Jones Industrial Average is down 190.58 points and the NASDAQ is up 32.95 
points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   The live cattle contracts may be trading slightly lower, but thankfully, 
that's not hindering the cash market's ability to trade higher. Within the last 
hour, there's been some light trade noted in the North at $402, which is $3.00 
higher than last week's weighted average, and some light trade has developed in 
the South at $256 to $257, which is $2.00 higher than last week's weighted 
average. So even though last week's market jumped $9.00 to $14.00 higher, 
packers are obviously still short bought and in need of more cattle as they're 
having to push prices higher again this week in the cash market. One would hope 
that this bullish development in the market's fundamentals would have a 
positive effect on the futures complex, but as of right now, the contracts are 
still trading mildly lower. June live cattle are down $0.45 at $253.02, August 
live cattle are down $0.95 at $247.95 and October live cattle are down $1.62 at 
$242.12.

   Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $2.04 ($387.58) and select down 
$4.55 ($385.08) with a movement of 72 loads (46.40 loads of choice, 2.78 loads 
of select, 17.22 loads of trim and 5.78 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   And even though there have been some positive developments in the fed cash 
cattle market, the feeder cattle contracts are opting to trade in alignment 
with the live cattle contracts, as currently most of the feeder cattle 
contracts are trading $2.00 lower into midday Thursday. May feeders are down 
$2.40 at $369.72, August feeders are down $2.85 at $370.20 and September 
feeders are down $2.45 at $368.85. If the live cattle contracts happen to trade 
higher ahead of the day's close, then there's a strong chance that the feeder 
cattle contracts will follow the live cattle market's lead and could see 
stronger prices ahead of the market close, too, but as always, time will tell.

LEAN HOGS:

   The lean hog complex is trading mixed into midday Thursday as the nearby 
contracts are currently trading mildly higher while the deferred contracts 
continue to trade lower. It is helpful to see that midday pork cutout values 
are up slightly, but before traders will trust that development, they'll need 
to see multiple days in which pork demand is stronger. June lean hogs are up 
$0.55 at $100.25, July lean hogs are up $0.52 at $102.77 and August lean hogs 
are up $0.42 at $103.72. The projected lean hog index for 5/6/2026 is down 
$0.17 at $91.02 and the actual index for 5/5/2026 is up $0.09 at $91.19. Hog 
prices are unavailable on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of 
confidentiality. However, we can see that only 243 head have traded and that 
the market's five-day rolling average now sits at $94.82. Pork cutouts total 
186.16 loads with 167.53 loads of pork cuts and 18.63 loads of trim. Pork 
cutout values: up $1.35, $96.45.

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




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