Live cattle futures saw some buying into the Friday close, with contracts up 50 cents to $1.025 and October down 77 cents this week. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange showed no sales on the 2,552 head listed, with a few bids of $230-232. Outside of that, there has been some light cash trade at $230 in the North, down $2-5 from last week. A few Southern trades were completed late at $233, down $4. Feeder cattle futures posted $2.55 to $3.05 gains in the front months on Friday, as October was 17 cents higher this week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $0.94 at $362.57 on October 2.
USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Friday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread narrowing to $16.89. Choice boxes were down 95 cents at $362.77, while Select was $1.98 higher to $345.38. USDA federally inspected cattle slaughter for this week was estimated at 557,000 head. That was 2,000 head above last week but 54,571 below the same week last year.
Oct 25 Live Cattle closed at $231.025, up $0.500,
Dec 25 Live Cattle closed at $234.500, up $1.025,
Feb 26 Live Cattle closed at $236.825, up $0.875,
Oct 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $357.175, up $2.875,
Nov 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $355.425, up $3.025,
Jan 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $349.725, up $2.550,
