Pork Futures: Hogs Soar
CHICAGO - Chicago Mercantile Exchange hogs ended sharply higher Thursday on short covering, fund buying and buy stops.Also, pork bellies closed higher, most live cattle posted gains and feeder cattle settled firm.
Pork futures spiked at the start driven by Wednesday's pork cutout rise and February and April's oversold Relative Strength Index conditions. Also, talk of cooler temperatures streaming into the Plains put longs in the buying spirit.
And, electronic-Chicago Board of Trade corn's overnight recovery inspired deferred-month hog bulls. Rear-months' hog surge pushed August, October and 2009 February month options to new contract highs.
However, spot-February and nearby-April buying stalled after both contracts neared their respective 10-day moving averages. What's more, longs were reluctant to fully commit to February and April because of their bearish premiums to CME's hog index.