AgHost Livestock Close

Livestock futures continued to move higher again Wednesday, with active support seen early in the session in feeder cattle trade. This helped to spark follow-through buying in all live cattle contracts and eventually spilled over to the lean hog complex, which posted gains in all nearby contracts at the closing bell. Nearby live cattle and feeder cattle contracts closed over $1 per cwt higher, but this is significantly lower than session highs, where nearby feeder cattle were posting aggressive gains of $4 per cwt on the first trading day of the month. Continued tight supplies of both beef and long-term cattle numbers continue to limit bearish interest in the already red-hot cattle and beef prices. Lean hog futures are holding the firm trading range seen over the past month, but current market supplies are limiting further aggressive buying. The pressure in the grain trade was driven by the softness in the wheat complex, which created some uncertainty in most ag commodities at the end of the day. Hog prices closed lower on the Daily Direct Afternoon hog report, down $0.41 with a weighted average of $90.17 on 1,609 hogs. May corn closed down 3 1/2 at $4.543 and May soybean meal closed up $1.80 at $318.2. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 224.23 at 46,565.74.