Live cattle futures are posting slight midday losses on Monday, with contracts down 30 to 60 cents. Cash trade settled in at $232-235 in the North last week, $3 lower, with Southern action at $235-237, down $3. Feeder cattle futures are trading with midday losses of 25 to 80 cents across most contracts on Monday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up 94 cents at $365.04 on September 25. The weekly OKC auction has an estimated 5,000 head for sale, which is slightly above last week. Some early sales were steady.
USDA’s Cold Storage report from Friday showed beef stocks on August 31 at 393.802 million lbs. That was a 1.01% drop from July but was 1.52% above the same period last year.
The weekly Commitment of Traders report from CFTC showed spec traders in live cattle futures and options trimming back their net long position by 2,844 contracts to 124,903 contracts as of Tuesday. In feeder cattle, the net long position continues to dwindle down, last week by 1,564 contracts to 24,327 contracts, as the number of outright longs dropped to the lowest since April, with the number of outright shorts the highest since last November.
USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed on Monday morning, with the Chc/Sel spread widening to $23.83. Choice boxes were up $1.94 at $373.37, while Select was $2.90 lower to $349.54. USDA federally inspected cattle slaughter for last week was estimated at 555,000 head. That was 3,000 head above last week but 60,922 head below the same week in 2024.
Oct 25 Live Cattle are at $231.375, down $0.425,
Dec 25 Live Cattle are at $233.700, down $0.600,
Feb 26 Live Cattle are at $236.175, down $0.325,
Oct 25 Feeder Cattle are at $356.225, down $0.775
Nov 25 Feeder Cattle are at $354.100, down $0.375
Jan 26 Feeder Cattle are at $347.550, down $0.275
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.
