Cattle Shift Focus to Tuesday After Weaker Monday Trade
Live cattle futures started of Monday with strength, but that quickly faded to 5 to 35 cent losses at the close. Cash trade from last week was reported at $208-210 in the South and $212-214 in the North. Feeder cattle futures posted losses of $1.25 to $1.75. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down $3.12 on April 18, with the average price at $289.30. The Monday afternoon OKC feeder cattle auction showed 1,582 head for sale, with sales listed as steady.
Monday afternoon’s National Wholesale Boxed Beef report from USDA was back higher, as the Chc/Sel was narrowed to $14.75. Choice boxes were $2 higher at $333.52/cwt, with Select up $3.22 to $318.77. Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 100,000 head for Monday. That was 12,000 head below the previous Monday and down 12,211 head from the same week last year.
Apr 25 Live Cattle closed at $209.775, down $0.050,
Jun 25 Live Cattle closed at $203.750, down $0.325,
Aug 25 Live Cattle closed at $200.000, down $0.125,
May 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $285.525, down $1.325,
Aug 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $289.150, down $1.725,
Sep 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $288.000, down $1.575,
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.