Livestock futures turn higher on technical trading, floods

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures turned higher on Wednesday as fund investors adjusted their positions and sought short-covering, even as many contracts set new lows for a second trading day, Reuters reported, citing traders. It was a day of volatile technical trading, despite weakness in grain futures and a government report showed an unexpected boost of domestic pork demand. After the market closed on Tuesday, the US Department of Agriculture reported that the total stock of pork in cold storage as of May 31 was down nearly 9.38% from the same period a year earlier. And though the report was seen as supportive for hog futures, prices roiled throughout the day in part because market participants are expecting USDA data will show a slightly larger US herd on Friday, said independent livestock trader Dan Norcini. On Wednesday, most-active CME August hogs dipped to a new contract low of 86.225 cents per pound – and also jumped to the highest price seen since June 2