Cattle Rally Higher on Wednesday

Live cattle futures pushed higher on the midweek session, with contracts up $1.90 to $2.80 in the nearbys. Cash trade kicked off at $195 in the south on Tuesday, with a few more picked up by the USDA on Wednesday near $197. The Wednesday morning online Fed Cattle Exchange auction from Central Stockyards, showed sales on 2 lots at $197 live and one lot at $198.50 using their BidTheGrid™ method. Feeder cattle futures closed with gains of $2.25 to $4.07 across the front months on Wednesday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 88 cents on Tuesday, with the average price at $277.87. 

President Trump is delaying part of the tariffs on Mexico and Canada by a month, with an exemption for auto under the condition they comply with the USMCA trade agreement.  

National Wholesale Boxed Beef prices from the USDA were lower in the Wednesday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $11.01. Choice boxes were down $1.33 at $313.54/cwt, with Select $1.49 lower to $302.53. The Wednesday Federally inspected cattle slaughter from USDA was estimated at 120,000 head, taking the weekly total to 345,000 head. That is 6,000 head above the previous week, but still down 19,320 head from the same week last year.

Apr 25 Live Cattle  closed at $196.550, up $1.900,

Jun 25 Live Cattle  closed at $192.700, up $2.625,

Aug 25 Live Cattle  closed at $191.275, up $2.800,

Mar 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $276.100, up $2.250,

Apr 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $276.075, up $3.575,

May 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $275.075, up $4.075,