
Last week, April live cattle futures (LEJ25) fell to a nine-week low of $193.025 a hundredweight and prices have been trending lower after scoring a contract high of $207.725 on Jan. 28. In late January, nearby live cattle futures (LEG25) scored a record high of $209.35. Feeder cattle futures (GFJ25) have also backed down from a record high of $282.25, basis nearby futures (GFH25), set in late January. Meanwhile, April lean hog futures (HEJ25) hit a contract high of $94.75 a hundredweight in mid-February but then promptly spent most of last week under strong selling pressure.
While the cattle and hog futures markets bulls have suffered some blows over the past few weeks, the overall cash market (LEY00) (GFY00) (HEY00) fundamentals are still sound. This suggests the markets will soon find a price floor and stabilize, if not begin to rally again.