3/10/2026 Market Commentary

Live Cattle: Live Cattle futures opened the week limit lower but quickly traded off of those levels yesterday. Overnight on Sunday, the energy markets were sharply higher and the equity markets were sharply lower, creating a bad scenario for the cattle complex. Add on the announced labor strike at the JBS plant in Greeley, Colorado and the futures turned to a risk off attitude to begin the week. Live Cattle did not spend much time at limit lower but spent the entire day at sharply lower levels. Today’s price action was the exact opposite of yesterday as the Live Cattle futures opened higher and never traded lower. Boxed beef was higher again this morning and is now at the highest levels in history with the exception of a few weeks last summer. Choice was quoted $6.33 higher at $397.62 while select was $3.78 higher at $387.40. The rally in the beef market has been supply driven and not demand driven, but with spring right around the corner and summer grilling season near, boxed beef works higher through this time period. JBS is not slaughtering this week in Greeley as they work to clean out coolers ahead of the strike that is scheduled to start next Monday. Despite the plant not killing yesterday, total cattle slaughter was 1,000 head larger yesterday compared to last Monday.

Feeder Cattle: Feeder Cattle futures have also turned in a volatile start to the week following the action in the Corn market. Feeder Cattle futures also opened the week limit lower and returned to those levels later in the day Monday, but followed up that poor performance with a higher market today. The CME Feeder Cattle index continues to work lower and has now been quoted lower 12 days in a row. Through Monday’s sales the index is at $365.77 which is down $0.62 on the day and $3.82 from a week ago. The low for 2026 is $348.65 so the cash markets are still higher than where we started the year, but have also dropped $11.60 off of their highs. Traders continue to monitor the big moves in the Corn market along with what the Live Cattle complex is doing. The March contract will expire in just over two weeks, and is currently at a $12.42 discount to the CME Feeder Cattle index.

Lean Hogs: The deferred contracts posted a fresh round of contract highs today as the pork cutout posted a new high for the move. Yesterday, the pork cutout was quoted $3.05 higher at $101.32. This is the first time that the cutout has been able to push through the $100 mark and goes to show how good pork demand currently is. Exports continue to be impressive every week as Mexico has become the United State’s number one customer and accounts for roughly 40% of total exports for the year. Domestic demand remains strong as consumers look for a cheaper protein source with boxed beef back toward record highs. Last week’s slaughter was revised lower to 2,488,000 head which is 28,000 head less than the week prior. Packers continue to search for available hogs to fill their slaughter needs, and the lack of hogs has caused a decrease in overall pork production.

Corn: Corn futures started the week in extremely volatile fashion as the war in Iran continues to have an impact on the grain markets. Crude oil futures shot higher on Sunday night and Corn futures followed suit. Crude oil ultimately traded lower yesterday and was back lower again today, causing corn to lose most of the gains the war had given the Corn market. This morning, the USDA released their WASDE Report and showed no changes to the U.S. balance sheet. Global production was increased based on larger yield in Ukraine and larger area in Brazil. Argentina’s production was decreased due to dryness in the country during February. The changes to foreign production increased world ending stocks by 3.8 million metric tons. The grain markets will again turn their focus to what is happening in the Middle East and Corn futures will zone in on the crude oil market. Changing news has created volatility in the equity and energy markets and that has been the main driver of the grain complex.