Pork Futures: Hogs Falter
US - Chicago Mercantile Exchange hogs finished negatively on fund liquidation, sell stops and spreading out of rear contracts into forward months. That eased front-month losses but weighed more on back contracts.Pork bellies settled sharply lower with all quoted trading months falling to new contract lows.
Meanwhile, live cattle finished mostly firm. Feeder cattle ended mixed.
Lean hogs spiked at the start, driven buy short covering and October and December's oversold Relative Strength Index conditions. Also, spot October traded in line with CME's hog index, which emboldened potential market bulls.
However, upward momentum stalled as sellers took into account Tuesday's pork cutout drop. What's more, Missouri direct hog market quotes came in lower than anticipated, although cash prices elsewhere came in mixed as the session progressed.
October and December's relapses put funds in a selling mood that tripped sell stops.
Front months continued to lose ground after October violated Tuesday's63.55-cent low on the way to an eight-month bottom. December hogs recoiled after testing 100-day moving average resistance and at one point drifted to a one-month low.
However, hog futures later rose from session lows amid another round of short covering. Also, speculative bulls took another chance on October and December after both months earlier sank deeper into oversold chart territory.
Nevertheless, a rash of late-selling by funds again returned October and December to near-session lows.