DTN Midday Livestock Comments          03/25 11:45

   Weaker Tones Follow Livestock Complex Into Wednesday's Noon Hour 

   With no major fundamental wins having surfaced, the livestock complex is 
trading mostly lower into Wednesday's noon hour. 

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   The livestock complex is trading mostly lower into Wednesday's noon hour as 
traders desperately yearn to see increased fundamental support. Still no cash 
cattle trade has developed but asking prices are noted in Texas at $238 to 
$240. May corn is up 2 1/2 cents per bushel and May soybean meal is down $3.20. 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 385.95 points and NASDAQ is up 232.78 
points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   Without any substantial fundamental support having developed, the live 
cattle complex is again trading lower into the noon hour. An interesting 
development, however, is the fact that on today's boxed beef report, choice 
cuts were down substantially while select cuts jumped higher to print $5.00 
over the price of choice cuts. What a wild time it is that we live in a world 
where there is more readily available finished beef than there is lean beef 
available. Still no cash cattle trade has developed but asking prices are noted 
in Texas at $238 to $240 but otherwise the market remains quiet at this point. 
April live cattle are down $0.87 at $234.50, June live cattle are down $0.55 at 
$234.05 and August live cattle are down $0.37 at $231.72.

   Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $7.91 ($392.00) and select up $2.53 
($397.03) with a movement of 85 loads (72.45 loads of choice, 2.98 loads of 
select, 3.33 loads of trim and 6.28 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   Today the feeder cattle complex is following the direction of the live 
cattle market as most of its contracts are lower. April feeders are down $0.97 
at $353.42, May feeders are down $0.50 at $350.20 and August feeders are down 
$0.95 at $349.27. Although demand has been good in the countryside, as the 
market continues to grow closer to the resistance at the 40-day moving average, 
traders yearn to see even more fundamental support before taking on such a 
resistance barrier.

LEAN HOGS:

   The lean hog complex is trading mixed into Wednesday's noon hour. Although a 
few of the summer 2026 contracts have found mild support, the market still 
hasn't established enough support to justify turning the contracts higher. 
April lean hogs are down $0.27 at $90.77, June lean hogs are steady at $104.05 
and July lean hogs are up $0.12 at $106.12. The market is anxious to see 
Thursday's Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report as it should give some clarity as to 
what to expect in regards to demand in the coming months.

   The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 3/24/2026 is down $0.05 a t$91.65, and 
the actual index for 3/23/2026 is down $0.07 at $91.70. Hog prices on the Daily 
Direct Morning Hog Report average $91.27, ranging from $88.00 to $92.00 on 
1,444 head and a five-day rolling average of $91.28. Pork cutouts totaled 
213.92 loads with 181.91 loads of pork cuts and 32.01 loads of trim. Pork 
cutout values: up $0.23, $97.20.

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




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