LIVESTOCK HIGHLIGHTS: Top Stories of the Day
October 19 2018 - 5:47PM
Dow Jones News
TOP STORIES
As Ranchers Face Drought, Trump Administration Cuts Back a
Critical Program
SNOWFLAKE, Ariz. -- Billy Elkins' pickup rumbled through miles
of barren rangeland and came to a stop near an old black cow.
"She's just thinner, not doing so good," he said. "She's going to
go. She'll be hamburger somewhere."
Western ranchers are suffering one of the worst droughts in
decades, and this week Mr. Elkins is liquidating half his herd of
1,000. He has avoided even deeper losses by offsetting feed costs
through a decade-old federal drought-insurance program, which he
says has been a "game changer."
Fewer Cattle Placed on Feed for September -- Market Talk
16:54 ET [Dow Jones] The USDA says feedyard operators put 5%
fewer cattle in their lots for fattening in September than a year
earlier. The agency says 2.05M head were placed on feed during the
month, below average prereport analyst expectations. Cattle on-feed
totaled 11.4M head as of Oct. 1, 5% above a year earlier, the
highest Oct. 1 inventory since the series began in 1996, the agency
says, but coming in lower than expectations. Marketings of fed
cattle during September totaled 1.72M head, lower than 2017 but
higher than expectations. Cattle futures closed down 0.3% ahead of
the report, while hog futures fell 1.3%. (jonathan.vuocolo@wsj.com;
@jonvuocolo)
STORIES OF INTEREST
Fast Food Is Slowing Down -- Overheard
Where's the beef? Also, I don't remember ordering a
milkshake.
As millions of impatient American diners can attest, the harried
employees of fast-food restaurants often mess up your order. Thanks
to an annual survey conducted by QSR Magazine, we now know where
your odds are the best and worst. KFC is the least accurate, coming
in below 70%. Putting that bird between two slices of bread works
wonders, though: Chick-fil-A is tops at over 97%.
FUTURES MARKETS
Livestock Futures End Lower -- Market Talk
15:33 ET - Livestock futures fall as cattle futures decline 0.3%
to $1.16875 a pound and hog futures drop 1.3% to 51.625c. Craig
Turner of Daniels Trading says hogs opened higher on a Reuters
report saying China has culled 200K hogs during 2018. "But once the
shock subsided, the market keeps looking at the same thing," he
says. Cash prices have been coming down, led by pork bellies, and
futures are at a discount to the cash market because of oversupply.
"If you want to get bullish on lean hogs look to 2019 -- if there
are serious issues in China it'll take a few months to see that
impact," Turner says. Ben Buckner with AgResource says official
data out of China says the hog count is unchanged from a year ago
and adds animal diseases don't always have a big effect on supply,
demand and price. "How the kill affects the world market is
unclear," he says. "There are more questions than answers."
(jonathan.vuocolo@wsj.com; @jonvuocolo)
CASH MARKETS
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Oct 19
Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations
All figures are on a per-head basis.
Date Standard Margin Estimated margin
Operating Index at vertically -
integrated operations
*
Oct 19 +$ 34.66 +$ 32.77
Oct 18 +$ 34.34 +$ 33.25
Oct 17 +$ 31.61 +$ 30.92
* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.
A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of
production of the animals.
Beef-O-Meter
This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite
values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.
Beef
For Today Choice 104.0
(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 101.6
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports
Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Friday rose $1.11 per hundred
pounds, to $207.93, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose
$1.89 per hundred pounds, to $194.24. The total load count was 107.
Wholesale pork prices fell 22 cents, to $76.98 a hundred pounds,
based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2018 17:32 ET (21:32 GMT)
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