Austin Schroeder at Barchart.com said, “Lean hog futures posted gains of $1.20 to $2 across most nearby contracts on Tuesday. Deferred contracts were up a tick to 75 cents. Preliminary open interest was down 5,591 contracts, suggesting some shorts were covering. USDA’s national base hog prices from the Tuesday PM report was at $106.99, up 16 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was down another 36 cents on September 19 at $104.98.” The Hightower Report said, “The USDA estimated hog slaughter came in at 489,000 head Tuesday. This brings the total for the week so far to 979,000 head, up from 978,000 last week at this time and up from 969,331 a year ago.”