DTN Closing Livestock Comment 08/16 17:08
   Cattle Futures Resume Aggressive Price Slide

   Live and feeder futures tripped sharply lower with the latter essentially
surrendering the big rally posted on Tuesday. Lean hog contracts also reversed
from Tuesday's substantial advance with most of the selling energy focused on
October and December.

By John Harrington
DTN Livestock Analyst



   GENERAL COMMENTS

   Cash cattle trading Wednesday was limited to several thousand steers and
heifers in parts of the North. Most dressed deals ranged from $175-$177,
roughly $7-$9 lower than last week's weighted average basis Nebraska. A few
live sales in the area were reported at $110-$111, $4-$5 lower. According to
the closing report, the national hog base is $0.48 lower ($71-$78, weighted
average $76.58). The corn market settled several cents lower, pressured by
generally positive growing conditions. The stock market closed higher with the
Dow up 25 points and the Nasdaq positive by 12.