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US Agriculture (Livestock) after the closing bell report

Oct Cattle closed lower for the 3rd session in a row as a lack of new buying interest and a steady flow of profit-taking helped to pressure. This occurred in spite of talk of tighter short-term supply and rising Beef prices. Similar to the action of the past several days, Oct Cattle saw some buying support early in the day but gave back much of the early gains into the mid-session. News of 71 deliveries against the Aug contract helped to limit the advance. A recent bounce in Beef prices, talk of stronger demand for the Labor Day holiday and talk that this week’s show list is smaller added to the positive tone early in the day. The premium to the cash market appeared to be a limiting force on the upside. Boxed-Beef cut-out values were +1.28 at mid-day to 179.77 from 177.82 last week at this time. Slaughter came in a little higher than expected at 128,000 head.

Oct Hogs closed lower for the 6th session in a row and into new contract lows for the 3rd session in a row. The market saw a strong rally early Tuesday but gave back part of gains into the mid-session and the selling continued into the close. The stiff discount of futures to the cash market plus talk of the oversold condition of the market helped to support the early bounce. In addition, talk that China was attempting to support Pork producers through the purchase of frozen Pork helped to support. In addition, the jump in Pork cut-out values late yesterday plus talk that packer margins are in the black helped to provide for some early support. Open interest continues to decline on the break suggesting that long liquidation selling has been active. Hog slaughter came in well above expectations at 411,000 head.