LIVESTOCK HIGHLIGHTS: Top Stories of the Day
November 23 2020 - 4:29PM
Dow Jones News
TOP STORIES
Cargill's CEO on Preventing Covid-19 Surge From Disrupting the
Food Supply
David MacLennan steered one of the world's biggest food
suppliers through Covid-19's world-wide spread in the spring. Now
he is bracing for another surge.
Cargill Inc., a 155-year-old company with 155,000 employees in
70 countries, straddles the global food- and agriculture-supply
chains, processing farmers' crops, packing meat and distributing
sugar, salt, cotton and other commodities. Its plants supply some
of the world's biggest consumer brands, supermarket chains and
restaurants.
Compass Group Expected to Post Lower FY 2020 Profit, Underlying
Revenue -- Market Talk
1059 GMT - Compass Group is expected to report a significantly
reduced pretax profit and lower underlying revenue when it releases
its earnings for fiscal 2020 on Tuesday. The FTSE-100 food-services
company is forecast to make a pretax profit of GBP345.5 million for
the year, according to a consensus estimate based on seven analyst
projections on FactSet. This compares with GBP1.47 billion in
fiscal 2019. Underlying revenue is expected to fall to GBP20.21
billion from GBP25.15 billion a year earlier, also taken from
FactSet and based on 18 analyst forecasts.
(matteo.castia@dowjones.com)
STORIES OF INTEREST
Chinese Demand Drives Soybean and Corn Inspections -- Market
Talk
11:26 ET - China is the main destination for both corn and
soybean export inspections, according to USDA data. In its weekly
export inspections report, the USDA says 832,637 metric tons of
corn are slated for inspection this week, along with 2.01M tons of
soybeans. China is the destination for 200,860 tons of corn--second
to only Mexico--and the destination for 1.39M tons of soybeans, the
top destination for soybeans. Export demand is a driver of grain
futures Monday, as China may be nervous about difficulties hitting
Brazilian crops, says Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "First-crop corn
production is adversely impacted in Brazil as well."
(kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)
FUTURES MARKETS
Short-Term Demand Supports Cattle Futures -- Market Talk
15:09 ET - Although market signals suggest that beef demand in
the next month or so will be weaker than last year, short term
appetite for beef is supporting the futures contract currently.
"With a supportive USDA report, continued strength in the beef
market and supportive outside market forces this morning, the
market acts like a short-term low may be in place," says RJO
Futures. However, even with the February contract up 2% to $1.129
per pound Monday, the upward momentum isn't expected to last - with
traders fearing "that the short-term surge in virus cases will hurt
demand into the holiday season." Meanwhile, lean hog futures closed
2.7% higher at 67.125 cents per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com;
@kirkmaltais)
CASH MARKETS
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Nov 23
Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations
All figures are on a per-head basis.
Date Standard Margin Estimated margin
Operating Index at vertically -
integrated operations
Nov 23 +$ 35.11 +$ 38.14
Nov 20 +$ 34.29 +$ 38.25
Nov 19 +$ 35.60 +$ 40.57
* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.
A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of
production of the animals.
Beef-O-Meter
This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite
values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.
Beef
For Today Choice 103.9
(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 102.9
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports
Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Monday rose $3.25 per hundred
pounds, to $241.60, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose
$2.50 per hundred pounds, to $217.48. The total load count was 122.
Wholesale pork prices fell 5 cents, to $76.81 a hundred pounds,
based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 23, 2020 17:14 ET (22:14 GMT)
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