John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst

DTN AgDayta

Mon Feb 8, 2010 04:37 PM CST

TUESDAY'S CASH CATTLE CALL:

Cash cattle are called steady to $1 higher. Tomorrow will be typically slow with early week bids poorly defined. Significant business should be postponed until the second half of the week.

MONDAY'S WRAP-UP:

New showlists in cattle country are mixed: smaller in Kansas and Colorado, larger in Texas, and about unchanged in Nebraska. The aggregate offering appears to be smaller, primarily thanks to the cutback in Kansas. Early asking prices are around $89 in the South and $140 plus in the North. According to the closing report, the Iowa hog base price closed .72 higher compared with the prior day settlement ($60.00-67.00, weighted average $64.46). The corn market settled about 4 cents higher, lifted by pre-report short covering and outside markets. The Dow closed below 10,000 for the first time in three months on troubling concerns about debt loads in Europe.

LIVE CATTLE:

Futures closed up 17 to 40. Short covering helped the live pit move moderate higher. April caught an extra bounce from both bear spreading on the front end and bull spreading further back. The steady pattern of winter storm continue to lend cattle futures a firm undertone. Beef cut-outs: moderately higher, up .75 (choice) to .98 (select) with light to moderate demand and offerings (113 loads of choice cuts, 56 loads of select cuts, 22 loads of trimmings, 58 loads of coarse grinds).

FEEDER CATTLE:

Futures closed mostly 55 to 107 higher. Feeders followed the positive lead of the live pit. Bull spreading also worked to support the March contract. On an estimated run of 6,800, Oklahoma City sold feeder cattle steady to $1 higher than two weeks ago. Calves traded on a steady basis. CME feeder index for 02/05: 98.72, up .29.

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