8/18/17 was down $1.10 and the model projects that the component on Friday's kill will slip between -0.60 and -0.90. With their lowerr bids, packers were able to purchase 120.0% of the moving average daily purchases of index hogs and 107.2% of the moving average daily purchases of "Total" hogs. Producers were willing sellers Friday.

As I see the firmness in the six-day moving average carcass weights and the kill running lower than projected, I wonder, "Are packers slowing the chain speeds and backing up hogs?" That can get producers mighty anxious to sell as we move into the high-kill fall time frame. Packers' margins appear to be favorable so they are not under a lot of pressure to break the price of hogs but they don't mind widening their margins.

If the index gets low enough, it would seem likely that either the packers or the retailers would step in an begin buying the VVVs or the ZZZs but that's not quite where we are yet apparently.

Just watching the VVVs at this point and looking for a scalping set-up. I had one at 8:50 but was busy with this post and missed it.

Best wishes,

dhm