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Date: April 1st, 2020 Quite the crazy day for cattle markets with equites lower, boxed beef posting a record breaking one-day move lower, yet futures rallied shortly after the noon hour and closed triple digits higher to close out the month of March. So far the only Covid-19 related slowdown, not shutdown, is taking place at a JBS packing plant in PA. Canada has had at least 1 packing plant shutdown so far this week. Only very light cash feedlot trade so far this week at $122 live, $2 higher than last week on Monday followed by some $180 dressed trade in the North which is $10 lower than last week. The Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will be held later this morning with another…

Date: March 30th, 2020 Cash feedlot trade in a range from $116-$122 live starting last Wednesday compared to the top end at $113 the week previous. Most of the volume traded this past week was at $119 to $120 live and $190 dressed. Livestock futures have disconnected some from the equity trade but not of course from the economic impacts from the spread of Covid-19. Grocery store demand skyrocketed the past couple weeks in which beef prices shot higher. As consumers have now filled freezer space, hamburger may still continue to move but steaks have stalled without the mass restaurant sales and many trying to keep personal finances in check. The record large 3 million claiming unemployment last week turned the livestock markets from limit…

Date: March 25th, 2020 Cattle futures were limit higher for the second day in a row, expect for the soon to expire March Feeder contract. Equities were supportive with the DOW up over 2100 points or 11%. Cash feedlot trade is light so far this week at $115 to $116 live and $185 to $188 dressed, $3 to $5 higher than last week. Later this morning the Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will be held with another week of decent volume at 5,886 head compared to last week’s 4,680 head of which 1,813 head sold at $111 to $113. Beef prices were steady to higher yesterday, pork lower. There continues to be good demand for beef but primarily hamburger now after the run on all…

Date: March 23rd, 2020 Livestock futures finished the week mostly higher as some separation continues from the outside market pressure. Cash feedlot trade was $105 live to start the week but by midweek, trade was reported at $113 live. That is $3 higher than the week previous and based on the April Live Cattle close Wednesday, a positive basis over $20. Beef prices continue to climb higher as well as pork prices as grocery stores try to keep shelves stocked and restaurants try to stay in business by offering curb side pickup or delivery. Friday’s Cattle on Feed report was neutral to friendly coming in as expected with 100% on feed compared to a year ago, only 92% placements and 105% marketings. NATIONAL FEEDER &…

Date: March 18th, 2020 Live Cattle futures were the leader yesterday using expanded limits to close $4.50 higher on the front three months. Feeders were impressive also, but did show some wild trading ranges as high as $7 and finished +187 to +505. Nearby Lean hogs also finished the expanded limit higher. This also wasn’t the result of limit higher equites with the Dow +600 points when livestock futures closed. Beef prices shot higher Monday and yesterday after the mass grocery store meat counter cleanout that started late last week. Cash feedlot trade already kicked off Monday on moderate volume at $105 live up to $110 but has ceased since. Later this morning the Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will be held with 10 times…

Date: March 16th, 2020 Friday closed out a wild week for the markets and the first major separation of the stock market from the cattle market in over a month. Now part of, in fact over half of Friday’s gain for the equites came after the commodity markets closed as President Trump announced a major private/public sector partnership in combatting the spread of COVID-19 and declaring the first public health national emergency since the H1N1 emergency in 2009. After the 10% collapse on Thursday, the stock market rallied back 9.3%. Cattle futures opened sharply higher but failed to hold gains mid-morning and used the expanded limits to set new lows. Nearby through December live cattle contracts closed the expanded limit $4.50 lower while only August…

Date: March 13th, 2020 The World Health Organization officially classifying the COVID-19 coronavirus a world pandemic adding more fuel to the market fire sale. Of the over 118,000 cases reported globally in 114 countries, 4,291 people have died, more than 90 percent of cases are in just four countries, and two of those – China and South Korea have significantly declining epidemics. This coronavirus has spread rapidly but compare these stats with 2019-2020 flu season. According to the CDC, so far this season there have been at least 34 million flu illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths from flu just here in the U.S. President Trump declared a travel ban for 30 days from Europe, all sporting events, conferences cancelled, universities going to online classes…

Date: March 10th, 2020 At the time livestock futures closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down over 1,600 points, trading over 2,100 points lower and finishing 2,015 lower, with the NASDAQ Composite down 625 and the S&P 500 Index down 226. The stock market triggered 2 circuit breaker pauses yesterday shortly after the open. Both live and feeder cattle contracts opened their respective limits lower, $3 and $4.50, yet did come off those limits during the trading session with only the August live contract settling limit lower but every feeder cattle contract. Lean hogs also touched $3 limit lower and finished just above those marks. Cash feedlot trade reported in Nebraska and Western Corn Belt on a few thousand head down another $3 to…

Date: March 9th, 2020 U.S. and world equity markets closed out the week sharply lower taking cattle futures with them. Cash feedlot trade was down another $2 at $113 live with dressed trade off $5 from $180 to $182. Beef prices rallied back and hog futures finished the week higher. The spread of the coronavirus has improved in both China and South Korea but still spreading in Europe and the U.S. with Italy the hardest hit and going on lockdown. NATIONAL FEEDER & STOCKER CATTLE SUMMARY – WEEK ENDING 03/06/2020 RECEIPTS: Auctions Direct Video/Internet Total This Week: 179,900 46,000 28,300 254,200 Last Week: 202,700 67,000 1,200 270,900 Year Ago: 204,000 63,400 36,900 304,300 Compared to last week, steers and heifers sold uneven; from 2.00 lower…

In the past week and a half, there has been a very strong correlation between equity market trade and the cattle complex, so yesterday prior to the open yesterday when the DOW was up nicely it injected some enthusiasm into the meats as well. At one point the DOW was up well over 1000 points and at one point live cattle were up the $3 limit on some contracts and feeders were knocking on the door of their $4.50 higher limit. We didn’t close at those levels, but the front three months in fats were solidly over $2 and the front four in feeders were over $2 higher as well. Bottom pickers were coming out of the woodwork calling for the lows to be in,…