Cattle to Respond to CoF Data

Live cattle prices closed Friday 50 cents to $1 higher. For the week, the board was a net $1.95 higher, after setting LoC highs on Wednesday. USDA had some pick up trade for Friday near $156 in the South and $157 in the North. The week’s trade was light from $155-$156 in the South and $157 in the North. Feeder cattle futures closed 2 to 35 cents higher on the day. For the week Jan feeders closed 22 cents higher, leaving them up by $3.52 for the month thus far. The CME Feeder Cattle Index for 12/22 was $176.75 after a $1.08 drop. 

The weekly Commitment of Traders report showed net new selling from cattle spec traders, limiting their net long by 1.4k contracts to 65.5k contracts as of 12/20. In feeder cattle, the managed money funds were closing more longs than shorts which expanded their net short by 891 contracts to 1,638 contracts. 

NASS reported 11.673m head of cattle were in 1,000+ head feedlots on December 1. That was a 2.6% drop from Dec ’21, but the trade was looking for a 2.8% drop on average. Placements were 2.14% lighter yr/yr with 1.925m head. The trade had been looking for a 4.2% drop. November marketings were 1.891m head, a 1.18% increase compared to the average trade guess for a 0.9% increase. 

Friday’s Boxed Beef prices were $271.95 in Choice and $245.47 in Select. That was a $6.74 increase for Choice and a $3.66 increase for Select. The USDA estimated FI cattle slaughter for the week as 562k head through Saturday. That was down from 625k head last week but was 75k head more than the same week last year. YTD slaughter remains 1.5% ahead of last year. 

Dec 22 Cattle  closed at $156.900, up $1.000,

Feb 23 Cattle  closed at $157.750, up $0.450,

Apr 23 Cattle  closed at $161.825, up $0.500,

Jan 23 Feeder Cattle  closed at $184.000, up $0.025

Mar 23 Feeder Cattle  closed at $186.750, up $0.300