DTN Early Word Livestock Comments      11/06 06:07
   Stock Market Pressures Livestock Futures

   Thursday was a rough day in the stock market with big losses posted for the
Dow Jones, NASDAQ and S&P 500. Big stock market losses can pressure commodity
futures even if fundamentals are supportive, which is currently not the case
for livestock markets.

Sarah Jungman
DTN Contributing Analyst

                        Futures     Equiv
Cattle:     Steady      Lower       Live       $267.77     -$1.39 *
Hogs:       Lower       Lower       Lean        $75.76     -$0.30 **

   *Based on the formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer
revenue. (The Live Cattle Equiv. The index has been updated to depict recent
changes in live cattle weights and grading percentages.)

   ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue.

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   Live cattle futures closed $3.60 lower on the December contract and posted
smaller losses on the deferred months. While the stock market pressure
certainly was not helpful, live cattle have been faced with their own
challenges this week. For cattle ready to go to slaughter, it is difficult to
find bids available as weights increase while they wait to ship. Cash prices
traded lower on Thursday as packers have plenty of offers to choose from.
Nebraska saw $214 to $219 live traded or $335 to $342 dressed. Iowa and
Minnesota were weaker at $208 to $218 live or $332 to $345 dressed. The Feeder
Cattle Index has fallen hard this week as well with daily auction results
looking much weaker than what the actual index will show Friday. Strike threats
for the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have been pushed off to 11:59 p.m. PST
Friday.