DTN Midday Livestock Comments          09/16 12:00

   Weaker Tones Dominate the Livestock Complex on Tuesday

   With little help from the market's fundamentals, all three of the livestock 
markets are trading lower into midday Tuesday.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   It's been a mostly lower-waning morning for the livestock complex as most of 
the contracts are trading lower into midday Tuesday. More than anything, 
traders simply don't seem confident enough to push the contracts higher in any 
of the three livestock markets, and there's currently not enough fundamental 
support to help them do so. December corn is up 6 1/4 cents per bushel and 
December soybean meal is up $0.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 
119.60 points and the NASDAQ is down 15.46 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   It's been a lower-trending day thus far for the live cattle complex as the 
market continues to struggle to find what direction is best for the near term. 
It's been a back-and-forth, whiplash kind of trade for the live cattle complex 
since Friday when the contracts broke sharply lower, but then on Monday, 
traders aggressively pushed the contracts higher, and now the contracts are 
somewhere in between the two mindsets. The market seems to be at odds with 
itself as traders know that the long-term fundamentals of the market are 
strong, but at the same time, it's fully expected that boxed beef prices will 
continue to wane in the upcoming weeks and that fed cash cattle prices could 
trade lower as well until holiday demand sees retailers more aggressive again. 
Which is why traders would like to support the complex, but are having a 
difficult time doing so confidently. October live cattle are down $1.95 at 
$232.65, December live cattle are down $1.75 at $234.52 and February live 
cattle are down $1.25 at $236.55. No developments have surfaced in the fed cash 
cattle complex yet, and won't likely until Wednesday at the earliest.

   Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $2.70 ($395.83) and select down 
$2.86 ($375.94) with a movement of 84 loads (47.20 loads of choice, 10.78 loads 
of select, 7.53 loads of trim and 18.06 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   Following in the live cattle market's footsteps, the feeder cattle contracts 
are also trading lower. September feeders are down $0.85 at $357.95, October 
feeders are down $1.10 at $353.40 and November feeders are down $2.05 at 
$348.20. One notable trend that's surfacing in sales across the countryside is 
that now, with the fall run fully underway, calves that are either unvaccinated 
or unweaned are trading notably lower than those that have been. And with 
buyers already paying substantially more for calves this year than in years 
past, it's easy to understand why they can't afford to take much of a risk on 
those cattle when their initial input price is so high.

LEAN HOGS :

   The lean hog complex is trading mixed into Tuesday's noon hour as the market 
simply doesn't seem to possess enough support right now to push beyond its 
current resistance levels. October lean hogs are down $0.07 at $97.45, December 
lean hogs are down $0.72 a $88.12 and February lean hogs are down $0.30 at 
$90.15. Again, this morning, pork cutout values are also lower, which has been 
the theme lately of mixed consumer demand, which consequently isn't empowering 
the futures complex.

   The projected lean hog index for 9/15/2025 is down $0.14 at $106.00 and the 
actual index for 9/12/2025 is steady at $106.14. Hog prices on the Daily Direct 
Morning Hog Report average $105.97, ranging from $102.00 to $108.00 on 5,870 
head and a five-day rolling average of $106.49. Pork cutouts values total 
220.70 loads with 191.30 loads of pork cuts and 29.39 loads of trim. Pork 
cutout values: down $2.31, $111.76.

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

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




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