Fat cattle gave back some of their Thursday rally with $0.47 to $1.20 losses on Friday. The December contract ended the week with a net gain of $1.65. USDA confirmed decent cash trade volume for Friday, mostly near $185. Feeder cattle futures were $1.90 to $2.45 weaker on the last trade day of the week, though Jan futures were still up by $4.05 from Friday to Friday. Futures are giving back 62c to $1.47. The 11/2 CME Feeder Cattle Index was 18 cents lower to $237.62.
The weekly CFTC data showed managed money traders were exiting live cattle longs during the week that ended 10/31. The long liquidation reduced the group’s net long by 6,883 contracts to 56,402. The spec traders were 2,975 contracts less net long in feeder cattle to just 735 contracts after a week of rolling existing longs to new shorts.
USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef report for Friday afternoon had Choice at $302.34, down by $2.19 cwt., and Select at $272.01, down by $2.33. USDA reported the week’s beef output was 525m lbs, 0.4% lower for the week and 5.6% below the same week last year. Slaughter was shown at 632k head for the week, compared to 336k last week and 668k during the same week last year. The year to date totals read 27.389 million head harvested and 22.46 billion lbs of beef produced.
Dec 23 Cattle closed at $183.875, down $0.800,
Feb 24 Cattle closed at $185.225, down $1.200,
Apr 24 Cattle closed at $187.825, down $0.950,
Nov 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $240.600, down $2.025
Jan 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $239.750, down $2.425
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler 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.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
