9/17/15 was up 0.25 to 71.32. The VVVs and the index are now running neck-to-neck. My bias is that the up-trend we now have going will continue for a while longer just as it has tended to do historically. So I have a mildly bullish bias mindset. And this bullishness may wait to show up until the VVVs are about ready to go to cash settlement.

The irony of this is that I am on the short side of the VVVs since I have sold the V/Z spread. It's just that it appears to me that the ZZZs have been beaten down too much relative to the VVVs. Almost every day, though, the V/Z spread makes another leg higher and I sell more. If we have a replay of sky-rocketing V/Z spread from 2014, I might have to take out a loan from ITZ or Dewey to save the farm.

The six-day moving average carcasss weight firmed to 210.37#. That's -2.19# yr/yr. Either hogs are finishing in a hurry or else producers are slipping behind in their shipments. I think it is fast finishing.

Best wishes,

dhm