THE PROTEIN PULSE - Closing Bell Friday | November 6th, 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE Closing Bell Friday | November 6th, 2026 Full Executive Briefing — Spoken Script

HOST: Welcome to The Protein Pulse Podcast, your daily market update on all things protein. This is Closing Bell Friday for November 6th, 2026, from The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: With Wendy's Independent Committee officially rejecting the Trian Partners-led group's seven thirty-five per share buyout proposal as an undervaluation and adopting a limited duration shareholder rights plan, the corporate battle lines are drawn. I'm sitting in the Protein Pulse offices with my crown sitting high on my throne. I found myself mindlessly twirling my pigtails as the morning protein chaos unfolded during MICA. Rumors were swirling that my special sauce getting sued might cost the kingdom everything, throwing my entire empire into corporate turmoil. Now, I am left not sure if I can have it your way, my way or even if I deserve a break today, because everyone's asking where's the beef? The beef market is in a tizzy, and we all need to put our screwworm tin foil hats down and realize Dave wouldn't want us to fight. Especially when the Board is fully banking on Bob Wright and the execution of Dave's Way to drive future growth instead as the Protein World turns.

HOST: Washington confirmed its first 2026 commercial-poultry HPAI detection, putting supplier-specific movement requirements under scrutiny. European advocacy groups filed fourteen complaints over alleged JBS-linked Brazilian cattle sourcing. JBS disputes the allegations. The filings establish no violation, and the poultry report establishes no broader supply loss. September U.S. beef export value grew eight percent while pork export value fell thirteen point five percent. June through September pork availability also increased. Sterling estimates losses for beef processors and hog farms, alongside positive pork-processing returns. Smithfield shifted hog sourcing. McDonald's outlined U.S. chicken tests, and Wendy's rejected a buyout.

SHAWN: Choice grade slipped ninety-four cents to three sixty-one fifty-six. Select grade fell four thirty-three to three fifty-two thirty-two, widening the grade premium to nine twenty-four from Wednesday's five eighty-five. Five-area live F-O-B steers averaged two sixteen ninety-five on Wednesday. December live cattle settled Thursday at two fourteen forty a pound, down three sixty. January feeders lost five forty. The widened grade premium alters substitution economics for grade-flexible buyers. Lower cattle prices have not restored packer margins. Sterling puts the beef packer margin at negative three sixty-five a head last week, their first loss in eleven weeks. Unhedged feeder margins at negative three hundred twenty-eight forty-five a head. Plant utilization was eighty-three percent. Steer carcasses averaged nine hundred ninety-one pounds through the week ended October 24th, fifteen pounds above last year. Heavier weights partly offset lower slaughter without restoring packer returns. Fresh eighty-fives fell to two ninety-six. Fifties rose to ninety-four. National reports captured seven eighty-five and eight fifty transactions. Fresh nineties last printed at three sixty-eight Wednesday, with no Thursday trade. Thursday's national USDA averages cannot establish a same-day ninety blend comparison. Executable supplier offers are a separate question.

HOST: September shipments totaled two hundred sixteen thousand three hundred fifty-three metric tons, down seven point five percent. Value fell thirteen point five percent to five hundred ninety-one point three zero million dollars. Mexico volume dropped fourteen percent, while Central America rose twenty-five percent. Separately, June through September domestic availability reached seven point one oh eight billion pounds, about two hundred fifteen million pounds above last year, as heavier carcasses, lower exports and higher imports added supply. The narrower fresh, frozen and cooked export series covers different products. The cutout slipped thirty cents to sixty-eight ninety-nine. Bellies fell three fifty-nine to sixty-three seventy-six and hams one sixty-six to sixty ninety-eight. Ribs rose four seventy-five to one twenty-nine oh two and picnics three oh one. That gives bacon and ham buyers negotiating evidence, while rib buyers face a firmer benchmark. Combo forty-two CL and seventy-two CL trim were both below fifty cents a pound, but represent different specifications. Sterling puts pork packer returns at sixteen eighty-two a head last week, versus eleven thirty-nine previously, while farrow-to-finish producers lost fourteen fifty-six a head. Slaughter approached two point six million head and utilization ninety-eight percent. The available national negotiated carcass average was forty-two forty-nine November 4th. No November 5th quote is implied. Internal production is below ten million head annually. An agreement covering forty thousand sows transfers an estimated nine hundred thousand annual hogs to an outside supplier while preserving deliveries to Smithfield plants. Hand-breaded products are planned at approximately one hundred restaurants in a couple of U.S. cities in early 2027. Pilots have begun. Franchisees report equipment, raw-bird and labor concerns, with a reported one hundred thousand dollar equipment estimate per restaurant. A national rollout has not been approved. For the week ending October 31st, two hundred forty-five point seven million eggs were set and one hundred eighty-nine point six million chicks placed, up one percent year over year. Cumulative 2026 placements reached eight point four zero billion, up two percent, with seventy-nine point nine percent hatchability. Whole birds and most parts were described as steady, while breast products sought buyers. Placements indicate future volume, not today's wholesale pr