Pork Futures: Hogs Surge
CHICAGO - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hogs ended sharply higher on advancing cash hog prices, active short covering and fund buying.Pork bellies gained significantly, live cattle closed higher and feeder cattle settled flat to up sharply.
Pork futures gathered upward momentum at the start sparked by Monday's board gains that spilled over into Tuesday. Rising pork cutout values, calls for steady-to-better cash hog prices and overnight-Chicago Board of Trade corn's up tick generated early hog futures buying interest.
February and April's leap beyond initial technical resistance obstacles on the open attracted prospective bulls despite both contracts' bearish overbought Relative Strength Index conditions.
Spot-February picked up more ground after midday direct hog prices came in higher. And, April benefited greatly from spreads, aggressive short covering by funds and purchasing by a prominent local trader.
Meanwhile, July through 2009 February contracts made new contract highs as speculative bulls plowed into the deferred months with nearby-April finally leading the charge.