DTN Midday Livestock Comments          05/14 11:49

   Cattle Trade Higher While Hogs Scale Lower 

   The most exciting development Thursday morning is some light cash cattle 
trade has been reported in the North at $415, which is a whopping $12.00 higher 
than last week's weighted average. 

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   The livestock complex is trading mixed into Thursday's noon hour as the 
cattle contracts again move higher, but the lean hog market's support has 
fizzled out. Some more light cash cattle trade has been noted in the North at 
$415, which is $12.00 higher than last week's weighted average. July corn is 
down 15 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $7.20. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average is up 377.35 points and NASDAQ is up 237.68 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   The futures market is holding its wits together this morning and continuing 
to move higher as traders are allowing the contracts to successfully rally 
roughly $1.00 higher into Thursday's noon hour. More than anything the 
continued support from the relentless cash market has helped keep the contracts 
elevated. Yet again Thursday morning more cash trade has taken place and prices 
have been marked higher. Thus far this morning there's been a handful of cattle 
traded in Nebraska at $415 -- which is $12 higher than last week's weighted 
average. Otherwise earlier this week light trade took place every day with some 
pretty wide ranges. Northern dressed deals have traded in a range of $400 to 
$410, mostly $405 to $410, $2 to $7 higher than last week's weighted averages. 
Southern live deals have had a range of $260 to $265, mostly $260 to $262, $3 
to $5 higher than the prior week's weighted averages. But thanks to the 
continued efforts of feedlot managers, the market is witnessing a true rally in 
the cash market where price discovery is the main theme of this bullish run.

   Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.01 ($388.67) and select up $0.75 
($389.33) with a movement of 59 loads (43.42 loads of choice, 3.21 loads of 
select, 6.99 loads of trim and 5.17 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   The feeder cattle contracts are also enjoying a modest rally into Thursday's 
noon hour as the market is grateful to see the live cattle contracts trading 
higher which lends some additional technical support. May feeders are up $2.12 
at $369.45, August feeders are up $1.77 at $362.70 and September feeders are up 
$2.40 at $360.37. Luckily Thursday's upward move has helped pull the spot 
August contract up to the market's 40-day moving average which remains a 
threshold that bull-spreaders should want the complex to conquer.

LEAN HOGS:

   The lean hog complex is lower heading into Thursday's noon hour as traders 
would like to continue to see the contracts scale higher but aren't confident 
there's currently enough support in the market to successfully do so. Yes, 
midday pork cutout values are higher, but the cash market has been of little 
support this week. June lean hogs are down $1.30 at $99.57, July lean hogs are 
down $1.07 at $104.80 and August lean hogs are down $1.02 at $105.50.

   The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 5/13/2026 is down $0.26 at $90.48, and 
the actual index for 5/12/2026 is up $0.26 at $90.74. Hog prices are not 
available on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. 
However, we can see that only 265 head have traded this morning and that the 
market's five-day rolling average now sits at $95.04. Pork cutouts total 167.16 
loads with 138.19 loads of pork cuts and 28.97 loads of trim. Pork cutout 
values: up $0.77, $96.80.

    

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




(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.