Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk, your end-of-week wrap on what moved the needle today.
Lean hog futures closed out a rough week under pressure, with losses ranging from twenty-five cents to a dollar fifty-seven on Friday alone, and December contracts finishing down five dollars and thirty-five cents on the week. The CME Lean Hog Index shed another dollar and seven cents, though the USDA's national base hog price did tick higher in the afternoon report, up four dollars and forty-two cents to forty-six dollars and twenty-one cents.
Cattle markets told a similar story, though traders did manage to pull contracts off their session lows heading into the weekend. Live cattle settled forty-two to ninety-seven cents lower on the day, with December down six dollars and ninety cents for the week. Cash trade in the South was active around two hundred eighteen dollars, with some late prints slipping toward two fifteen, and northern markets trading in the two fourteen to two sixteen range.
Shifting to defense, Anduril Industries continues stacking billion-dollar government contracts while remaining firmly private, leaving public market investors looking for exposure through the supply chain. Three publicly traded names are drawing attention as companies positioned to benefit directly alongside Anduril's expanding defense footprint.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
