Closing Bell Friday | September 11, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Closing Bell Friday, September eleventh. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Twenty-five years ago this morning I was in Oklahoma City. Some days fade with time. That one never has. Today I simply remember. September 11, 2001. Never forget.

HOST: After that — the week. Packer margins turned positive. Feedlots went deeper in the red.

SHAWN: Sterling has packers at plus one hundred sixty-nine a head and unhedged feedlots at minus three twenty-nine. A year ago feedlots were making more than seven hundred. Asking prices this morning were two twenty-five live and higher. One profitable packer week does not fix the cattle problem.

HOST: Grind math improved. Fifties fell to about ninety-one cents. Domestic nineties around four thirty-five. Imported lean still near three oh five.

SHAWN: Watch the blend. The tariff-free window is three hundred thousand metric tons. S and P thinks Brazil and Paraguay may only ship thirty-five to forty thousand a month. The window is real. The assumption that all of it shows up on schedule is not.

HOST: Pork is squeezed on both sides. Chicken still has the extra pounds. Crude closed above one hundred two.

SHAWN: Smithfield expects Fresh Pork and Hog Production losses in the third quarter. July pork stayed home. Recheck landed cost. A raw-material opening can disappear before the load reaches the plant. Stay disciplined.

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Shawn Sparks, The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.