2/22/18 was down -0.18 to 69.69. The JJJs are now trading premium to the component by +1.78. The "Gap" can widen in a hurry when the component drops and the futures move higher and that is what has happened the past couple of days. I'm now a tiny bit short the JJJs. Don't like the heavy carcass weights and the continued weakness of the product as measured by the primal cuts.

The six-day moving average carcass carcass weight firmed to 214.69#. That is +2.17# year over year. On 1/22/18 the year/year number was only +0.72#. The climbing carcass weight may indicate that producers are behind in their shipments or it may mean that packers have strategically decided they want to process heavier hogs. Either way it means more pork in the face of mildly weaker demand. Index hogs were also heavier at 214.56# Packer hogs moved up in weight yesterday to +1.53# heavier than non-packer hogs. That was a one-day gain of about 1/4#.

Best wishes,

dhm