Midday Cattle Trading Mostly Higher
Fat cattle are 15 cents weaker in the Feb contract, but 5 to 12 cents higher in the other front months. Feeders are currently 10 to 55 cents in the black, past the 10c loss for Feb. USDA confirmed 13.4k head of cash cattle trades for Thursday, with the bulk near $172 (up $1-$2 for the week). The CME Feeder Cattle Index for 12/27 was $2.80 weaker on 12/27 to $217.71.
Weekly Export Sales data had just 2,138 MT of beef booked for the week that ended 12/21. That was a 3-wk low and left the full year’s commitments at 847.8k MT- a 27% decrease for the year.
USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef quotes were $291.28 in Choice and $259.24 in Select on Thursday afternoon; that was down by another 20c for Choice and was $1.08 weaker for Select. The rib primals were quoted at $556.44 and $403.03 cwt. respectively. USDA estimated FI cattle slaughter for the week through Thursday at 350k head, compared to 380k for the same week last year.
Dec 23 Cattle closed at $173.675, up $2.475, Feb 24 Cattle closed at $168.900, down $0.025, Apr 24 Cattle closed at $172.500, up $0.225, Jan 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $222.475, down $0.000 Mar 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $223.475, up $0.350
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.
