DTN Midday Livestock Comments          04/07 11:35

   Cattle Futures Scale Lower Following Massive Rally 

   Following a massive surge in the cattle contracts over the last seven 
trading days, traders are now letting the contracts trade mildly lower as some 
technical exhaustion sets in. 

Rick Kment
DTN Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   The livestock complex is mixed heading into Tuesday's noon hour as the 
cattle futures are experiencing some technical exhaustion and the lean hog 
complex is as well. Still no cash cattle trade has developed. May corn is down 
5 1/2 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $4.70. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average is down 239.41 points and NASDAQ is down 156.24 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   After rallying aggressively over the last seven trading days, the live 
cattle complex seems to be waiving its white flag, and is experiencing some 
exhaustion after such a tremendous mpve. April live cattle are up $0.35 at 
$248.37, June live cattle are down $1.04 at $245.97 and August live cattle are 
down $1.07 at $241.80. Until the market sees what's going to develop 
fundamentally this week, a sideways or potentially even minor lower trend may 
begin to develop. At this point no new cash cattle trade has developed and 
trade will likely be delayed until the later part of the week. Do note that JBS 
workers are returning to work Tuesday at the Greeley, Colorado, packing plant 
which ends a long, three-week strike that began on March 16. Negotiations will 
continue on Thursday and Friday as no labor agreement has been reached yet.

   Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $1.87 ($386.17) and select up $0.26 
($388.63) with a movement of 73 loads (61.91 loads of choice,

FEEDER CATTLE:

   Keeping in perfect unison with the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle 
contracts are also trading slightly lower into Tuesday's noon hour. April 
feeders are down $3.37 at $368.65, May feeders are down $3.65 at $366.70 and 
August feeders are down $3.65 at $366.17. Until the live cattle complex turns 
higher again, it's likely the feeder cattle contracts will remain skeptical of 
trading much higher.

LEAN HOGS:

   Following Monday's rapid surge, the lean hog complex is also seeing some 
minor resistance in its nearby contracts while its deferred contracts continue 
to scale higher. April lean hogs are down $0.05 at $90.42, June lean hogs are 
down $0.65 at $107.05 and July lean hogs are down $0.27 at $109.67. Midday pork 
cutout values are up slightly, which is helpful from a fundamental sense, but 
until traders regain confidence, the market could simply hold steady.

   The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 4/6/2026 is up $0.13 at $90.06, and the 
actual index for 4/3/2026 is down $0.08 at $89.93. Hog prices are unavailable 
on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we 
can see that only 1,370 head have traded this morning and the market's five-day 
rolling average now sits at $90.28. Pork cutouts total 165.82 loads with 151.11 
loads of pork cuts and 14.71 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.51, 
$99.55.

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




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