Live cattle futures are down 10 to 85 cents in the nearbys, with some deferreds higher on Thursday. Thursday morning’s Central Stockyards Fed Cattle online auction showed no sales on the 1,228 head offered, with bids at $226-228. Outside of that, Northern sales have been reported at $230-230.50, with $232 Southern sales this week. Feeder cattle are easing lower by $3 to $4.50 on the Thursday session following Wednesday’s limit losses. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $2.61 to $349.42 on November 4. Both live ($10.75) and feeder ($13.75) futures have expanded limits on Thursday.
USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Thursday AM report, with the Chc/Sel spread narrowing to $15.96. Choice boxes were down 29 cents to $377.97, while Select was $1.76 higher at $362.01. USDA federally inspected cattle slaughter for Wednesday at 117,000 head, taking the week’s total to 344,000. That is 1,000 head above last week but 17,358 head shy of the same week last year.
Dec 25 Live Cattle are at $219.675, down $0.850,
Feb 26 Live Cattle are at $218.025, down $0.100,
Apr 26 Live Cattle are at $217.950, up $0.375,
Nov 25 Feeder Cattle are at $322.725, down $3.000
Jan 26 Feeder Cattle are at $316.775, down $3.200
Mar 26 Feeder Cattle are at $311.350, down $4.325
