Friday’s triple digit gains led fat cattle to new life of contract highs. August stayed under the ATH from the June contract by $2.50, as the board settled $1.90 to $3.27 higher. USDA reported $180 - $186 cash sales in the WCB for Friday, though Southern trade was mostly unestablished for the week. There were two sales listed in the Friday FCE auction with 122 heifers at $178.50 and 116 steers for $179.
Front month feeder cattle futures rallied $1.65 to $1.97 across the front months on Friday. That left the August contract at a weekly gain of $1.22. The 7/13 CME Feeder Cattle Index faded back by 24 cents to $239.45.
USDA reported weaker Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were $0.97 weaker in Choice and $3.57 lower in Select to $305.94 and $276.61 cwt. respectively. USDA’s estimate for the week’s FI cattle slaughter was 633,000 head through Saturday. That is 40k head below the same week last year, as the now 17.48m head slaughter trails last year’s pace by 3.6%.
Aug 23 Cattle closed at $180.175, up $3.275,
Oct 23 Cattle closed at $182.625, up $2.525,
Dec 23 Cattle closed at $185.775, up $2.400,
Aug 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $246.650, up $1.650
Sep 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $249.225, up $1.900
Oct 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $250.475, up $1.900
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.
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