Live Cattle Pit Oct '15 (LCV15)

Live cattle futures saw strength into the Monday close, as contracts were 30 to 90 cents higher. Equities are weaker early on Tuesday, which could add some pressure at the open. Cash trade was late last week, with Southern action at $244 and Northern sales from $239-243. Feeder cattle futures saw stronger trade, shrugging off early losses to close $1.85 to $2.30 higher. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down another 97 cents to $371.82 on February 27. The OKC feeder cattle auction on Monday showed 5,500 head for sale, with feeder steers $2-8 lower and heifers down $4-10. Calves were down $5-15 for steers and 10-20 lower on heifers.

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were higher in the Monday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread narrowing to $3.13. Choice boxes were up $1.50 to $381.34, while Select was $3.90 higher to $378.21. USDA estimated federally inspected cattle slaughter for Monday at 102,000 head. That is 4,000 head below with the previous Monday and 2,764 head shy of the... Read more