Cattle Look to Start Fresh Week
The cattle market is looking to begin a new week of trade after live cattle futures rallied on Friday, to post gains of $1.60 to $1.65 in the front months. June was still down $1.40 on the week. Cash trade was limited last week, with $208 reported in the north, with some $204 in the South. Feeder cattle futures settled Friday with contracts up $2.40 to $3.75, as April rose $5.75 last week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down another $1.16 on April 10, with the average price at $286.13.
Managed money was slashing 24,274 contracts from their net long in live cattle futures and options as of April 8 taking it to 118,503 contracts. In feeder cattle futures and options spec traders were cutting back 5,332 contracts from their net long contracts to 28,037 contracts.
The USDA National Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower on Friday afternoon, as the Chc/Sel widened back out to $20.26. Choice boxes were 7 cents lower at $334.22/cwt, with Select down $1 to $313.96. Last week’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 564,000 head. That was 27,000 head below the previous week and down 33,882 head from the same week last year.
Apr 25 Live Cattle closed at $202.475, up $1.625,
Jun 25 Live Cattle closed at $196.800, up $1.600,
Aug 25 Live Cattle closed at $193.850, up $1.650,
Apr 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $285.175, up $2.400,
May 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $278.700, up $3.400,
Aug 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $283.675, up $3.750,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.