LM_XB402 is the morning edition of USDA's National Daily Boxed Beef Cutout and Boxed Beef Cuts report, the early sibling of the afternoon LM_XB403. Both come from the same Livestock Mandatory Reporting pipeline: packers report negotiated boxed beef sales, and USDA publishes the cutout values and item prices built from them.
What each edition sees
The two editions split the trading day. Per USDA's report specification, the morning edition publishes at 11 AM Central and covers trade from 1:30 PM of the prior business day through 9:30 AM of the current day. The afternoon edition publishes at 3 PM Central and is cumulative: everything in the morning report plus the trade between 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM. The afternoon print is the full session; the morning print is a partial one.
Why the afternoon print is the reference
When the trade quotes the cutout, it means the afternoon number. Charts, historical series, and formula business settle against LM_XB403, and day over day comparisons only make sense against it, because comparing a partial session to a full one produces moves that never happened. Every boxed beef price on Meat Read runs off the afternoon print for that reason.
What the morning print is for
The morning report earns its keep on days when timing matters. It is the first official read after an overnight development, and a sharp early move in Choice or Select, or in a primal you are buying that day, is worth knowing before your supplier calls. Its weakness is the same as any partial session number: early trade can be thin, and a lean early print can point in a direction the full session walks back.