DTN Midday Livestock Comments          03/03 11:53

   Mixed Tones Follow the Livestock Complex Into Tuesday's Noon Hour

   The live cattle contracts are trading slightly higher into Tuesday's noon 
hour, as traders believe enough immediate downward pressure has been endured.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   The livestock complex is trading mixed into Tuesday's noon hour as plenty of 
pressure still looms, but some of the markets have found modest technical 
support. Still no cash cattle trade has developed. May corn is down 1/2 cent 
per bushel and May soybean meal is down $1.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 
is down 590.83 points and NASDAQ is down 322.80 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   The live cattle complex is back to trading higher as traders have seemed to 
have found some technical support throughout the day's trade. April live cattle 
are up $0.80 at $233.90, June live cattle are up $0.50 at $230.15 and August 
live cattle are up $0.12 at $228.30. Today's slight uptick in price doesn't 
mean that the pressures (both external and internal) have merely disappeared, 
because they haven't, but rather instead that traders believe enough downside 
regression has been seen in the near term and that it's both acceptable and 
safe for the complex to trade mildly higher. No cash cattle trade has developed 
yet.

   Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $6.60 ($387.94) and select up $1.53 
($379.74) with a movement of 54 loads (34.97 loads of choice, 4.66 loads of 
select, 3.63 loads of trim and 11.11 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   And in keeping in unison, most of the feeder cattle complex is following the 
live cattle market's direction and is also trading slightly higher. March 
feeders are down $0.12 at $357.15, April feeders are up $0.02 at $353.27 and 
May feeders are down $0.17 at $349.30. The live cattle contracts are trading 
higher in a somewhat stable fashion, but the feeder cattle complex is much more 
sporadic about its trade this morning, bouncing back and forth throughout the 
vast majority of the morning.

LEAN HOGS:

   And without the support of stronger pork demand, the lean hog complex is 
trading slightly lower into Tuesday's noon hour. April lean hogs are down $0.22 
at $95.32, June lean hogs are down $0.35 at $109.12 and July lean hogs are down 
$0.40 at $111.20. And at this point, a sideways lower trend is expected to 
continue in the lean hog complex until fundamental support improves.

   The projected lean hog index for 3/2/2026 is up $0.15 at $89.84, and the 
actual index for 2/27/2026 is up $0.25 at $89.69. Hog prices on the Daily 
Direct Morning Hog Report average $91.84, ranging from $88.00 to $93.00 on 
4,480 head and a five-day rolling average of $91.49. Pork cutouts total 195.11 
loads with 175.84 loads of pork cuts and 19.27 loads of trim. Pork cutout 
values: down $0.91, $97.59.

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




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