USA: Lean hog futures bulls power ahead

February lean hog futures this week hit a contract high and the bulls have the solid near-term technical advantage, to suggest more sideways-higher price action in the near term. Fundamentally, however, waning cash fundamentals are expected to begin to weigh on the futures market. The latest CME lean hog index is down another 56 cents to $85.90 as of Nov. 25, extending the three-week decline. December futures settled just $2.80 below today’s cash quote on Tuesday, indicating traders do not anticipate the recent steep cash maket declines to continue into December. USDA’s Cold Storage report showed frozen beef stocks at 431.9 million lbs. at the end of October, up 19.4 million lbs. from September, whereas the five-year average was a 15.5-million-lb. increase during the month. Beef inventories fell 13.8 million lbs. (3.1%) from year-ago and 47.3 million lbs. (9.9%) from the five-year average. Pork stocks totaled 426.0 million lbs., down 32.4 million lbs. from the previous month, ...