8-20-15 was down -0.21 t0 78.99 putting the VVVs discount to the component by 15.26. That's a lot but it is not at all unusual this time of the year and there is a very high likelihood it will both open and close some from this point before we get to cash settlement. The model did a nice job of projecting the change in the component for today.

The six-day moving average carcass weight firmed a tiny, tiny bit to 209.26#. Packer hogs were up a little bit more than the non-packer hogs. Maybe this means that producers are staying quite current in their shipments but the kill rate is lower than projection this week. Are there fewer hogs out in the countryside than the USDA projected in the weight category that is coming to market now?? I will be looking carefully at the weekly kill report today.

I'm not doing much good today. Maybe I should turn my computer off and wait until next week.

Best wishes,

dhm