6/9/2026 Market Commentary

Live Cattle: Live Cattle futures traded on both sides of steady throughout the entire morning but finished the day with big gains. Nervousness surrounding the Screwworm, the Cargill plant in Ft. Morgan, and now tensions in the Middle East have all weighed on the market this week. Yesterday, the Live Cattle futures traded sharply lower by the end of the day as new Screwworm cases continue to be discovered and more focus was placed on the current state of Cargill’s plant in Ft. Morgan, Colorado. The plant has not processed cattle in nearly two months due to a labor strike. The focus has been on whether Cargill and the worker’s union could come to an agreement to resume processing. Yesterday, rumors began circulating that Cargill’s plan had shifted to closing the plant permanently. Today, the futures felt uneasy for most of the day as the stock market and S&P futures traded sharply lower as tensions in the Middle East grew amid cease fires not playing out as expected. Boxed beef was mixed this morning with choice quoted $0.34 lower at $391.86 while select was $0.41 higher at $378.50. The choice/select spread has widened to $13.36 and is now better than year-ago levels. Cash news has been limited up to this point of the week with no bids to speak of in the North. There were light volume of bids at 258 in the South this morning but neither region has seen any trade. Most of the feedlots are priced at 260.

Feeder Cattle: Feeder Cattle futures again tested the 20-day MA today after trading through that line the past two days but ultimately settling underneath. Small support has been formed near today’s lows and a move and settlement above the 20-day MA would help the current chart picture. The CME Feeder Cattle index has been quoted higher three days in a row. Today, the index was quoted $1.19 higher to $368.20 through Monday’s sales. This is an increase in $8.99 over that three-day span. There have been six cases of Screwworm detected in the U.S. since last Wednesday. Four have been in cattle, one case in a dog, and the other in a goat. Three of the cases have been in the Southern part of Texas, while the other three have been in New Mexico in counties that border Texas. More information and news will continue to be released as to quarantine areas and livestock transport restrictions but news has been very limited up to this point. Canada did state that they do not want animals from infested areas.

Lean Hogs: Lean Hog futures posted new lows for the move and are quickly approaching the contract lows that were set in November. Last week’s CFTC Report showed the managed money as being short the Lean Hog complex after holding a record long position late in 2025 and coming close to that record just three months ago. The cash fundamentals have fallen well below year-ago levels, but with the exception of the pork cutout, are all higher than a week ago. The pork cutout is currently at 98.46 after spending two days above $100 last week. This was the first time since April 20 that the pork cutout has been able to move through the $100 level, but there has been no stabilization either time and it quickly returns to the mid-$90 area. Last week’s estimated slaughter was revised down to 2,422,000 head but still the highest in four weeks and nearly 3% larger than the same week a year ago. Yesterday’s national cash average was quoted at $96.11 with the top paid of $98.50. This is the highest the national cash average has been since October 10, 2025.

Corn: Corn futures posted new contract lows in the nearby contracts while the deferred contracts tested their contract lows yesterday. The futures recovered and finished the day over eight cents off of those lows and saw good follow-through to begin today. Today, the market traded lower into the end of the day and finished the day mixed. Export inspections for the week showed another good week of Corn shipments. This week’s total was 75.4 million bushels which was well above the average estimate and higher than the ten-week average. Currently, the U.S. is 162 million bushels ahead of the pace needed to meet the current USDA export goal. Thursday, the USDA will release their monthly WASDE Report. Estimates are for the U.S. Corn carryout to decrease slightly but the world carryout to increase slightly. South American Corn production is expected to increase from the May Report. Yesterday’s crop progress report showed the U.S. Corn condition at 67% good to excellent, 2% below the average guess.