Cattle futures ease in cautious trade - CME
Lean hogs extend losses on fund profit-taking
11 February 2026
1 minute read
By: Benchmark April lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) declined on Tuesday for a fourth straight session, pressured by speculative profit-taking after last week's life-of-contract high amid a lack of supportive news, Reuters reported, citing traders.
CME April hogs settled down 1.225 cents at 95.500 cents per pound. Front-month February hogs closed down 0.250 cent at 86.850 cents, just above the CME's Lean Hog Index, a two-day weighted average of cash prices, which was last at 86.46 cents.
Managed commodity funds hold a sizable net long position in CME hog futures, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of long liquidation.
"The speculative net long position has risen strongly.... it's getting up near the highs that it's been at before," said Doug Houghton, analyst for Brock Associates.
"It is an old bull market at this point, without any major corrections," Houghton said.
Wholesale pork values inched lower. The US Department of Agriculture priced pork carcasses on Tuesday afternoon at $95.46 per hundredweight, down 37 cents from Monday.
Cattle futures fell in range-bound trade as brokers awaited direction from cash cattle markets. CME April live cattle futures settled down 0.775 cent at 237.425 cents per pound while March feeder cattle futures finished down 2.675 cents at 364.775 cents.
Historically tight US cattle supplies have elevated cash cattle prices in recent weeks, while meat packers' profit margins have fallen to deeply negative levels.
Packers were losing nearly $270 per head of cattle as of Tuesday, according to Denver-based livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com LLC.
The USDA reported Tuesday's cattle slaughter at 116,000 head, up from 115,000 head a week ago but below the year-ago figure of 122,072 head.
