Cattle Shift Focus to Thursday, Following Wednesday Rally
Live cattle futures closed in on all-time highs on Wednesday, falling a few cents short, as contracts were up $2.40 to $2.75. Preliminary open interest continues to close, up 2,813 contracts on Wednesday. Cash trade saw some $224-225 sales on Wednesday in the South. Northern business has been light. The Wednesday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction saw sales on 463 of the 926 head, with trade at $124 live and $126 using their BidTheGrid™ method.
Feeder cattle futures were pushing higher on Wednesday, with contracts up $2.62 to $2.75. Wednesday’s preliminary OI was up 1,177 contracts. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $2.04 on June 3 with an average price of $303.52.
USDA’s National Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed on Wednesday afternoon, with the Chc/Sel spread at $8.44. Choice boxes were back down 28 cents at $365.16, while Select was quoted 20 cents higher at $356.72/cwt. USDA’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter for Wednesday was 121,000 head, with the week to date total at 357,000 head. That is down 7,466 head from the same week last year.
Jun 25 Live Cattle closed at $218.400, up $2.425,
Aug 25 Live Cattle closed at $212.350, up $2.600,
Oct 25 Live Cattle closed at $210.600, up $2.675,
Aug 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $303.875, up $2.650,
Sep 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $303.150, up $2.725,
Oct 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $301.275, up $2.625,
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.