DTN Midday Livestock Comments          02/11 11:46

   Cattle Jump $3.00 Higher Wednesday

   Cattle futures are higher as traders anticipate another strong week in the 
cash cattle market. 

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   It's been a fruitful day for the cattle contracts as both the live cattle 
and feeder cattle futures are trading $3.00 higher into Wednesday's noon hour. 
Still no cash cattle trade has developed and both bids and asking prices have 
yet to be established. March corn is down 3 1/4 cents per bushel and March 
soybean meal is down $0.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 42.63 points 
and NASDAQ is down 9.83 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   It's almost as if the overarching theme in the live cattle complex as we 
head into Wednesday's noon hour is, "Why are we waiting around? We know the 
market's direction is higher." So where does all this support come from this 
morning? Good question, because boxed beef prices are lower, there's yet to be 
any trade in the fed cash cattle market, and the equity markets aren't doing 
anything that would justify trading notably higher. But if there's one thing we 
know and understand about the livestock complex, it's that it is an 
anticipatory market. If traders think the market is bound to trade 
substantially higher, one may ask, "Why not today?" February live cattle are up 
$3.30 at $242.40, April live cattle are up $3.50 at $240.92 and June live 
cattle are up $2.77 at $236.62. Still no trade has developed in the fed cash 
cattle market and both bids and asking prices remain elusive at this point.

   Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.41 ($367.14) and select up $1.19 
($364.09) with a movement of 53 loads (45.12 loads of choice, 3.38 loads of 
select, zero loads of trim and 4.62 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   Upon seeing the live cattle contracts trading higher, it didn't take much 
convincing to get the feeder cattle futures to move higher also. March feeders 
are up $3.02 at $367.80, April feeders are up $3.62 at $364.90 and May feeders 
are up $3.77 at $360.55. Sales have been noticeably stronger this week in the 
countryside for both feeder cattle and calves as supplies remain incredibly 
thin.

LEAN HOGS:

   Meanwhile the lean hog complex is the same story Wednesday that it's been 
over the last couple of days as the market continues to scale lower. April lean 
hogs are down $1.12 at $94.37, June lean hogs are down $0.82 at $108.07 and 
July lean hogs are down $0.67 at $109.87. And with pork cutout values down 
slightly, the market won't likely change its direction this afternoon.

   The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 2/10/2026 is up $0.20 at $86.52, and 
the actual index for 2/9/2026 is down $0.15 at $86.32. Hog prices are higher on 
the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $3.36 with a weighted average price of 
$88.28, ranging from $81.00 to $88.75 on 2,142 head and a five-day rolling 
average of $86.56. Pork cutouts total 170.57 loads with 146.86 loads of pork 
cuts and 23.72 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: down $1.01, $94.45.

   ShayLe Stewart can be reached at [email protected]




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