Cattle Mostly Higher so far
Live cattle futures are trading with midday gains of as much as $1.80 across the front months. Feeders are also in the black with gains of as much as 80 cents. USDA confirmed some light cash trade on Wednesday mostly near $185, or $3 below last week. The 3/26 CME Feeder Cattle Index was down by 36 cents to $251.27.
Weekly beef bookings were shown at 12,700 MT for the week that ended 3/21. That was up 15% wk/wk and was 4% over the 4-wk average.
Afternoon Boxed Beef prices were lower on Thursday with a $2.51 drop in Choice and a $1.83 weaker Select. The ribs were quoted at $471.72 and $455.05 cwt. respectively. The week’s FI cattle slaughter was listed at 367k head for the week through Wednesday. That compares to 358k head last week and to 375.3k head during the same week last year.
April 24 Cattle are at $184.275, up $0.675,
Jun 24 Cattle are at $179.375, up $0.700,
Aug 24 Cattle are at $177.475, up $0.800,
Cash Cattle Index was $184.000, from $186.00 last week
Mar 24 Feeder Cattle are at $247.400, down $0.650
April 24 Feeder Cattle are at $247.000, up $0.125
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.