Cattle Slip into the Lock Weekend, with Placements Coming in Below Estimates

Live cattle futures posted Thursday losses of 82 cents to $2.22 at the close, with August holding for gains of $5.45 this week. The Thursday Fed Cattle online auction showed no sales on the 1,466 head offered, with bids at $254. Cash trade has been slow this week, with bids reported at $353-354 on Thursday. Feeder cattle futures were down 30 cents to $1.10 on Friday, as August was still $9.17 higher this week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $3.04 on June 17 to $367.06. The market will be closed on Friday in observance of Juneteenth.

USDA Cattle on Feed data from this afternoon showed May placements down 9.7% from a year ago and below estimate calling for a 5.5% drop from a year ago. Marketings were down 11.77% compared to 2025 at 1.551 million head. June 1 on feed inventory was 2.09% larger than the same period last year at 11.682 million head.

The weekly Export Sales report showed 10,449 MT of beef sold for 2026 in the week ending on June 11, nearly half of what was reported for last week. Shipments were pegged at 13,022 MT, back down from the week prior.

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Thursday PM report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $19.17. Choice boxes were down 58 cents to $393.92, while Select was $2.51 lower at $374.75. USDA’s federally inspected cattle slaughter for Thursday was estimated at 109,000 head, with the weekly total at 426,000 head. That is up 5,000 from the previous week but 23,239 head below the same week last year.

Jun 26 Live Cattle  closed at $254.800, down $0.925,

Aug 26 Live Cattle  closed at $246.625, down $2.225,

Oct 26 Live Cattle  closed at $239.975, down $1.875,

Aug 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $366.600, down $0.825,

Sep 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $364.675, down $0.975,

Oct 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $361.750, down $1.100,