Cattle Showing Mixed Wednesday Trade
Live cattle futures are trading with contracts down 27 cents to 15 cents higher at midday. Cash trade came across at mostly $185 across the country last week, down $1 to $3. Action early in the week has been mostly compiling showlists. Asks have started to come in around $187-188, with very light northern trade at $290 in the beef on Tuesday. No sales were reported on the 2,344 head listed in this morning’s Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from the Central Stockyards. Bids were in the $183-183.50 range. Feeder cattle are showing steady to 30 cent higher trade at midday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $1.06 at $253.68 on November 18.
Cattle on Feed data is set to be released on Friday, with October Placements seen 3.8% above last year, with marketings up 5.2%. November 1 on feed estimates are expected to be down 0.1%
USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Wednesday AM report. Choice boxes were down 48 cents to $308.31/cwt, with Select 99 cents lower @ $270.92. The Chc/Sel spread widened to $37.39. USDA estimated Tuesday’s federally inspected cattle slaughter at 126,000 head, taking the weekly total to 244,000 head. That is 11,000 head above the previous week and 10,522 head below the same week last year.
Dec 24 Live Cattle are at $186.425, down $0.150,
Feb 25 Live Cattle are at $187.925, down $0.075,
Apr 25 Live Cattle are at $189.700, up $0.275,
Nov 24 Feeder Cattle are at $254.525, up $0.275
Jan 25 Feeder Cattle are at $252.200, up $0.200
Mar 25 Feeder Cattle are at $251.250, unch,
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.