DTN Early Word Livestock Comments      11/28 06:22
   A Shorter Trading Day Will Not Lack Volatility

   The cattle market on Wednesday did what cattle futures have been doing
recently and may continue to do for some time. Heightened volatility will be
the norm and any slight news will create either positivity or uncertainty. Hog
futures found support with strong gains unfolding due to positive cash and
cutouts developing during the day.

Robin Schmahl
DTN Contributing Analyst

   Cattle: Lower          Futures: Mixed         Live Equiv: $268.72 -$0.98*

   Hogs: Lower            Futures: Higher        Lean Equiv: $100.36 +$2.00**

   *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:

   Cattle futures found support on Wednesday, possibly from a combination of
things. The comments by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins about when the
reopening of the Mexican border to feeder cattle takes place in the future are
that it will be opened in stages and not all ports at once. That may have had
some influence, but not much, as that is how they opened the border last time,
and that would make logical sense. More in likely, it was the combination of
some short covering ahead of the holiday period and futures holding a
substantial discount to the level at which cash cattle have traded for the
week. Northern dressed cattle traded as much as $15.00 lower, with Southern
live cattle as much as $9.00 lower. This is the largest weekly cash decline we
have seen in a long time. It isn't easy to anticipate the movement of futures
today based on the volatility seen so far this week. It is also an abbreviated
trading day. Boxed beef prices were lower with choice down $1.81 and select
down $0.42.