Hog futures traded and closed sharply mixed at midweek, with December falling to new lows early in the day before close more than $1 higher. February found good support around major moving averages, and was back near unchanged by the afternoon close, while the rest of the hog market settled lower. The CME’s lean hog index was down $.32 at $66.68, and projected another $.30 lower for Thursday.
Hog slaughter through Wednesday totaled 1.394 Mil head, up 9,000 head from a week ago and 6% more than last year.
The chart shows spot hog prices over the last 3 years, and also plots CME futures through next August. Note that after this week’s break, the CME is pricing in the lowest summer high in 3 years. We would not be anxious to sell the market down on this break, but summer rallies in upcoming months to $85 or better should be used for sales.
