Live cattle futures ended Monday with losses of as much as 3.4% and some with triple digit losses of $5 per cwt or more. Preliminary open interest data showed rolling from April into June, with some light net new selling in the deferred months. Overall, there were 123 contracts added across all delivery months in the live cattle complex. Live cattle options saw 11.5k new contracts added yesterday, nearly even with new calls and new puts. The H5N1 avian flu is being discovered in more cattle herds (now in 6 states) and spread to a human in Texas who worked with cattle. That was only the second known crossover to humans in the US, ever. It is treatable and rarely fatal, except for birds.
USDA reported Thursday cash trade from $184 to $191, with the bulk of sales near $186 in the South and near $189-$190 in the North. Monday activity was mostly collection of show lists. Feeder cattle futures closed the first trading day of the new month with $6.02 to $7.37 losses. USDA reported 3.5k feeders were sold in the weekly OKC feeder auction. CME Feeder Cattle index was $248.99 on 3/27.
The April 1st PM boxed beef quotes were $305.74 and $301.79 for Choice and Select respectively. For Choice that was a 98 cent decrease and for Select it was a $1.64 drop. USDA reported the Monday cattle slaughter at 109k head. Which is down 9k from last week and compares to 120k head during the same week last year.
Apr 24 Cattle closed at $180.075, down $4.925,
Jun 24 Cattle closed at $175.325, down $4.925,
Aug 24 Cattle closed at $172.100, down $6.100,
Mar 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $247.750, down $0.300
Apr 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $240.425, down $6.700
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