October Live Cattle Futures Rise as Cash Trade Shows Signs of Improvement
In a notable increase, October live cattle futures gained 40 cents on Friday, while other contracts remained stable or dropped up to 20 cents. Cash cattle trading picked up this week, with Southern sales reported at $190 to $191, and Northern sales slightly higher at $190 to $192. A recent online Fed Cattle Exchange auction, taking place at the Central Stockyards, recorded sales of 212 out of 1,594 head, with prices ranging from $190 to $191.50 on Friday morning. The feeder cattle futures displayed mixed results, with contracts varying from a decline of 42 cents in some deferred contracts to an increase of 22 cents in nearby October. On October 24, the CME Feeder Cattle Index decreased by 47 cents, settling at $249.09.
This afternoon, the Cattle on Feed report was released, revealing that September placements fell by 1.91% year-over-year, totaling 2.156 million head. In contrast, marketings saw a 2.04% increase, reaching 1.698 million head. The on-feed inventory recorded on October 1 was relatively unchanged from the previous year, at 11.6 million head.
According to Cold Storage Data, beef stocks totaled 413.79 million pounds on September 30, marking the lowest level for that month in a decade, though this figure is up 6.48% from the prior month.
Further, USDA’s wholesale Boxed Beef prices reported an uptick in the Friday afternoon session. Choice boxed beef increased by $1.07 to $322.24/cwt, while Select rose by 74 cents to $295.08. Consequently, the Choice/Select spread widened to $27.16. Furthermore, the USDA estimated the weekly federally inspected cattle slaughter at 623,000 head, reflecting an increase of 15,000 head from the previous week but a decrease of 11,701 head from the same week last year.
Oct 24 Live Cattle closed at $189.700, up $0.400.
Dec 24 Live Cattle closed at $189.150, down $0.100.
Feb 25 Live Cattle closed at $189.925, down $0.025.
Oct 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $249.625, up $0.225.
Nov 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $248.575, up $0.050.
Jan 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $245.625, up $0.100.
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 are solely for informational purposes. For more information, please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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