4/10/2026 Market Commentary

Live Cattle: Live Cattle futures posted new contract highs across the entire complex and were led by the nearby months today. The April contract has now finished higher eleven days in a row and has added $19.100 over that span. The cash market has yet to be established across all regions at this time, but will be higher than a week ago in order for feedlots to sell. There were a few cattle that traded at 250 in the North to a regional packer this morning but on very limited volumes. With the April Futures closing at 251.775 today, it is going to take at least 250 if not 252 to see widespread trade this week. Boxed beef traded somewhat sideways toward the end of the week after seeing big losses at the beginning of the week. This morning, choice was quoted $0.59 higher at $381.68 while select was $2.18 higher at $383.75. The choice/select spread remains in negative territory with ample supplies of prime and choice beef and a shift to cheaper cuts of beef at the meat counter by the consumer, increasing demand for select. Overall, the push higher within the complex has been led by increased fund interest that pushed the futures higher, along with tight market ready cattle supplies that met packers having limited inventory. This week’s estimated slaughter was 21,000 head less than a week ago as the packers have again slowed chain speed in an attempt to stretch out the supply of ready cattle along with helping support boxed beef prices.

Feeder Cattle: Feeder Cattle futures posted a high within the first few minutes of trade on Monday morning and those highs held until late in the day today. All contracts posted new highs for the move today and are now nearing the contract highs that were set last October. The CME Feeder Cattle index will show a slight decrease compared to the end of last week but was quoted $2.57 higher today at $366.67. Cash Feeder Cattle are again setting new all-time records across all classes of cattle as feedlots and backgrounders race to acquire inventory. Today’s CFTC Report showed another week of fund buying as the managed money sector were buyers of 91 contracts, increasing their net long position to 20,202 contracts. The all-time record was 37,806 which was set last summer. The Feeder Cattle markets are being supported by some of the tightest numbers of available Feeder Cattle the industry has ever seen, along with record fat cattle prices and relatively cheap feed.

Lean Hogs: Lean Hog futures finished the day mixed with the nearby April contract finishing just a nickel higher and the deferred contracts finishing slightly lower. The most active June contract finished lower the final four days this week and settled $4.125 off of the weekly highs. The pork cutout was quoted $0.47 higher yesterday at $97.38 rebounding from the low of the week of $96.91. The pork cutout started the week at $99.04, testing the $100 mark for the first time since March 16, when it was quoted just slightly over $100 for three days in a row. Weekly exports were down sharply from the week prior but still an overall good number and better than the averages we have seen over the past few months. In yesterday’s WASDE Report, the USDA revised pork production down by 300 million pounds in 2026, citing smaller farrowing numbers and smaller farrowing intentions going forward. Pork production is still estimated higher than a year ago with a 1.4% increase expected for this year.

Corn: Corn futures had a disappointing close to an overall disappointing week within the complex. The May contract pushed below many moving averages this week and took out other support areas in the process. There have been export sales reported each of the last two days with South Korea buying yesterday and an unknown destination this morning. U.S. export business has been very good and currently, the country is running well ahead of the pace needed to meet the current USDA goal. It was no surprise that the USDA made no changes to the U.S. balance sheet yesterday but with the current export demand the U.S. is currently seeing, they easily could have increased that demand stream. Weekly export sales released yesterday were below the week prior but still a decent number with Japan being the main buyer for the week. This week, Corn futures traded to the lowest level since February 25, which was before the war premium began to get built into the market. It sure feels like the funds have ran out of enthusiasm within the Corn complex with the back and forth news coming out of Iran and the crude oil market failing to find continued support over $100.