Cattle Trading Higher Ahead of USDA Reports
Live cattle futures are trading with 60 cents to $1.05 gains a midday. Cash activity has seen light $230-231 in the South. Other bids are $230 in the South and $235-238 in the North. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from Central Stockyards showed $237.50 sales on 325 head out of KS, with $233 TX BidTheGrid™ sales on 120 head. Feeder cattle futures are taking the Thursday losses back, up $2.45 to $2.60 at midday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down $1.26 to $326.18 on July 23.
Cattle on Feed data will be released this afternoon, with June placements expected to be down 2% from a year ago and marketings seen 3.6% below June 2024. July 1 on feed inventory is estimated to be down 0.8% from last year. USDA will also release their bi-annual July Cattle Inventory after a hiatus last year.
USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were back higher in the Friday morning report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $21.85. Choice boxes were quoted $0.63 lower at $367.46, while Select was down $1.36 to $345.61. USDA estimated cattle slaughter for Thursday at 117,000 head, with the week to date total at 448,000. That was down 10,000 head from last week and 35,058 head lower vs. the same week in 2024.
Aug 25 Live Cattle are at $226.425, up $0.625,
Oct 25 Live Cattle are at $223.200, up $1.050,
Dec 25 Live Cattle are at $223.650, up $1.000,
Aug 25 Feeder Cattle are at $331.425, up $2.525
Sep 25 Feeder Cattle are at $332.225, up $2.575
Oct 25 Feeder Cattle are at $330.825, up $2.475
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.