Cattle futures were mostly higher on Friday but gave some back by the close. April prices were up by 30 cents for the day. April cattle completed the week with a net 35c loss. USDA reported cash trades for the week from $185 to $190, though the bulk of business took place on Friday with $186 sales for the South and $187-$188 for the North.
Feeder cattle futures ended Friday with $0.75 to $1.90 gains. That had April futures $1.92 weaker for the week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was $249 on 3/14, up by another 54 cents.
CFTC data showed cattle spec traders were reducing short exposure during the week that ended 3/12. That left the group 63.3k contracts net long for the settle. Spec fund traders were 10,339 contracts net long in feeder cattle as of 3/12. That was a 1.2k contract weaker net position for the week after long liquidation.
USDA’s Boxed Beef prices were shown at $311.90 for Choice and at $302.40 for Select on Friday afternoon. That was a $1.12 increase and a 71c increase respectively. USDA reported the week’s beef output at 501.4m lbs, up 3.6% for the week but 2.8% below the same week last year. Cattle slaughter was estimated at 601k head, which was also 3.1% above last week but was 4.3% under the same week last year.
Apr 24 Cattle closed at $187.250, up $0.300,
Jun 24 Cattle closed at $183.600, up $0.225,
Aug 24 Cattle closed at $182.625, up $0.525,
Mar 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $249.275, up $1.800
Apr 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $252.125, up $0.950
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 Disclosure Policy here.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
