Cattle Look to Close out the Week

Live cattle were steady to $1.40 higher on Thursday, with December down a dime. Open interest was down 503 contracts on Thursday. Cash trade saw some very light volume $260 live and $408 dressed in the north on Wednesday, with a few bids at $255 on Thursday. The Thursday morning, Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 1,636 head offered, with no bids listed. Feeder cattle futures were 37 to 85 cents higher at the close. Open interest rose 1,292 contracts on Thursday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $6.03 on June 24 to $381.86.

Weekly Export Sales data showed 21,268 MT of beef sold for 2026 in the week ending on June 18, the second largest weekly this year. Shipments were pegged at 13,048 MT, back up from the week prior.

Cold Storage data from Thursday afternoon showed beef stocks at the end of May at 403.474 million lbs. That was a drop of 1.06% from last year and down 0.49% from the end of April.

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Thursday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $21.58. Choice boxes were down $2.62 at $396.32, with Select $3.40 lower to $374.74. USDA’s federally inspected cattle slaughter for Thursday was estimated at 109,000 head, with the weekly total at 433,000 head. That was up 7,000 from the previous week but 18,966 head below the same week last year.

Jun 26 Live Cattle  closed at $257.400, up $1.400,

Aug 26 Live Cattle  closed at $247.225, up $0.700,

Oct 26 Live Cattle  closed at $240.625, up $0.250,

Aug 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $373.300, up $0.375,

Sep 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $371.375, up $0.750,

Oct 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $368.350, up $0.800,