On Friday, live cattle futures closed with gains between $3.05 and $4.10, while feeder cattle futures increased by $4.30 to $4.60. Cash trades for cattle this week ranged from $230-233 in the North and $223-225 in the South. The CME Feeder Cattle Index rose to $311.97, up by 58 cents.
A worker’s union at Tyson’s Texas plant, with a capacity of 5,500 heads, authorized a strike on Friday, causing the plant to go offline. The USDA reported an estimated cattle slaughter of 560,000 head this week, unchanged from the previous week but 50,420 head below the same period last year.
In the Commitment of Traders report, spec traders reduced their net long positions in live cattle futures and options by 2,357 contracts to a total of 132,893 contracts as of Tuesday.
