DTN Midday Livestock Comments          01/28 11:43

   Cattle Scale Higher Waiting on Cash Cattle Trade to Develop

   Still no cash cattle trade has developed and both bids and asking prices 
remain elusive.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   The livestock complex is trading mixed as the lean hog contracts are trading 
lower after facing some technical exhaustion, but the cattle contracts are 
bravely trading higher. Still no cash cattle trade has developed. March corn is 
up 3 3/4 cents per bushel and March soybean meal is up $4.80. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average is up 30.30 points and NASDAQ is down 9.29 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   The live cattle complex wasn't confident at the day's initial start, but now 
that the market has had longer to trade, the complex has grown stronger. 
Currently, the contracts are pushing past the market's resistance and treading 
higher into the day's noon hour. February live cattle are up $0.97 at $236.57, 
April live cattle are up $1.12 at $238.52 and June live cattle are up $0.95 at 
$234.20. It's somewhat questionable where traders are getting the additional 
support from this morning, as boxed beef prices are mixed and we've yet to see 
any trade in the fed cash cattle market. But maybe traders' confidence lies in 
the fact that they believe fed cash cattle prices will trade higher later this 
week and that Friday's Cattle Inventory report will be bullish. I hope all 
those claims come to fruit. At this point, no cash cattle trade has developed 
and both bids and asking prices remain elusive.

   Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $1.14 ($369.25) and select down $1.45 
($363.73) with a movement of 50 loads (31.60 loads of choice, 4.20 loads of 
select, 5.22 loads of trim and 8.48 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   The feeder cattle complex is also trading higher into Wednesday's noon hour 
as the market finds it comforting to see the live cattle contracts trading in a 
positive manner. March feeders are up $1.55 at $363.60, April feeders are up 
$1.60 at $362.25 and May feeders are up $1.57 at $359.52. As long as the live 
cattle contracts maintain their upward momentum through the day's end, it's 
likely that the feeder cattle contracts will as well.

LEAN HOGS:

   The lean hog contracts are back to trading lower as the market seems to be 
facing some technical exhaustion after a significant rally over the last month. 
Thankfully, pork cutout values are still trading higher, so traders should find 
some support there, but for the meantime, the market's direction is lower. 
February lean hogs are down $1.20 at $87.85, April lean hogs are down $1.87 at 
$94.95 and Juen lean hogs are down $1.72 at $107.65.

   The projected lean hog index for 1/27/2026 is up $0.79 at $85.22 and the 
actual index for 1/26/2026 is up $0.42 at $84.43. Pork cutouts total 179.94 
loads with 156.91 loads of pork cuts and 23.03 loads of trim. Pork cutout 
values: up $0.57, $96.26. Hog prices are again not available on the Daily 
Direct Morning Hog Report, but we can see that only 4,325 head have traded and 
that the market's five-day rolling average sits at $80.86.

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




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