Lean hogs were holding steady on Friday with futures ticking up 15 cents or so in the near-term contracts. Noticed the USDA base price came in at $90.33 that morning, and the CME index was tracking around $90.55 - up about 37 cents from the previous session. What caught my eye was the pork cutout value dropping 44 cents to $98.78 per cwt, even though belly and rib primals showed some strength. On the slaughter side, Thursday's federally inspected hog kill hit 491,000 head, bringing the weekly total to just under 1.944 million. That's running a bit lighter than last week and notably below year-ago levels. The hogs market seems to be finding some footing here, though the mixed signals in the cutout values suggest traders are still digesting the supply picture. Worth keeping an eye on how these price levels hold into next week.