Cattle Close Red on Friday

Nearby fat cattle futures ended the Friday trading session with 30 to 80 cent losses. Limited USDA confirmed some catch up business on Friday in the WCB at $147, though maintained $145-$148 as the bulk for the North, compared to $142 in the South. Feeder cattle ended Friday trading on the board with triple digit losses of $1.65 to $2.12. The CME’s Feeder Cattle Index was $182.25 on 8/25 after another $1.25 increase. 

CFTC reported managed money firms added a few more longs than shorts through the week that ended 8/23, leaving the group 66,556 contracts net long. In feeder cattle, the spec firms added 2x as many shorts as new longs for a 1,051 contract weaker net long of 1,164 contracts. 

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices in the Friday PM report were quoted as $262.76 for Choice and $238.76 for Select. That was a 78 cent pullback for the Choice boxes and a $1.22 cwt. increase for Select. Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 678k head for the week through Saturday. That is up 17k head wk/wk and 25k head yr/yr.  

Aug 22 Cattle  closed at $140.800, down $0.300,

Oct 22 Cattle  closed at $143.050, down $0.600,

Dec 22 Cattle  closed at $149.100, down $0.800,

Sep 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $182.200, down $2.050

Oct 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $183.400, down $2.125