Author: ploewen

The ag commodity complex finally picked up some steam and volatility in the price movement yesterday after a long hiatus of really slow action. Case in point, live and feeder cattle futures have been trading in close to a $1 range from high to low through the Christmas and New Year weeks, but fats expanded to more than $2 from high to low and feeders over $3 in yesterday’s range. Unfortunately, most of that was at lower money as well with some steep losses at times. By the close though, the active selling subsided and prices moved back closer to unchanged with a finish that was just mildly lower in cattle. Hogs closed out the day mildly higher. Finding solid reasoning for the cattle weakness…

Date: December 27th, 2019 Livestock futures finished higher yesterday with feeders triple digit higher as we opened after the Christmas Day break. Cash feedlot trade has been mostly inactive, only light volume trade at $122 live which is $2 higher than a week ago. Their certainly hasn’t been any rush by feedlots as the December contract is $3+ premium to last week’s cash and expiring next Tuesday. Also the carry to the February contract of another $3+ is supportive as well. The U.S. hog supply is still burdensome and keeping pressure on prices but hope is building that China will soon be turning the corner and begin rebuilding their hog herd. Until then, China will continue to be a major protein importer. Cattle slaughter from…

I wouldn’t say it was a great start to the week for the cattle complex on Monday, but it was better than expected given the fact Cattle on Feed numbers from last Friday afternoon had a bearish undertone. The On Feed total came in at 102% which was just barely over the pre-report estimates. Placements were 4.1 points over the average trade guess, coming in at 105% and marketings came in under the expectations at 97%. That could have very easily resulted in triple digit losses yesterday, but the open was quietly lower. The close was mixed in live cattle with an equal share of higher and lower. Feeders were down mildly and both markets had fairly tight ranges of trade from high to low.…

Date: December 18th, 2019 Another mixed day for livestock futures and strong gains for the grain complex yesterday. Early gains pushed cattle contracts to test the recent highs but faded as the day progressed and corn futures began to move from steady to higher for the day. Cash feedlot markets remain fairly quiet with light volume in the Western Corn Belt trading at $120 live and $188 dressed which is even with last week’s trade. The Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will be held later this morning with 878 head consigned compared to last week’s 977 head of which none sold. US Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers believe they have found a vaccine against African swine fever of Georgia, according to an article published earlier…

Little bit of a sour start to the week yesterday with live and feeder cattle both finishing lower. Coming off a major up move from Friday though, the mildly weaker finish wasn’t too alarming. What was alarming was negotiated cash last week only being able to manage steady money with the previous week in the Southern Plains at $119, despite Nebraska and the western Corn Belt gaining a little. Especially odd was Dec fats trading over $122 at the close Friday versus that $119. The stout gains Friday turned a quietly lower futures trend back into a nice looking bull market on the charts. Dec live cattle made new recent highs, but is just a shade shy of the contract highs from back in April.…

Date: December 16th, 2019 Cattle futures finished triple digits higher and throughout the entire grain and livestock complex the only to finish strong. All other commodities faded from early morning gains as the Phase 1 U.S./China deal continues to be murky and incomplete. Cash feedlot trade was light all week at $118 to $119 live and $188 dressed. Volume picked up Thursday in TX and KS at $119 live. In the North, live trade topped out at $122 live and $190 dressed, both $2 to $3 higher than the week previous. NATIONAL FEEDER & STOCKER CATTLE SUMMARY–WEEK ENDING 12/13/2019 RECEIPTS: Auctions Direct Video/Internet Total This week: 347,200 34,400 1,900 383,500 Last week: 286,900 26,000 56,700 369,600 Year Ago: 257,900 36,700 26,400 321,000 Compared to last…

Date: December 11th, 2019 Livestock futures finished mixed yesterday while grains were higher. Light cash feedlot trade so far this week at $118 to $119 live, steady to $1 lower than last week. I would hope to see $119 to $120 trade ahead of the holidays. Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will held later today with 1,068 head consigned compared to last week’s 1,189 head of which 860 sold at a weighted average of $118.36. Boxed beef prices continue to press lower, Choice now down over $20 since peaking back at $242.34 back in mid-November. USDA updated meat supply and demand yesterday with 2019 production expected to increase 2.85 billion pounds over 2018 and 2020 numbers are expected to be up another 2.83 billion pounds.…