Cattle Bulls Push Back on Wednesday

Austin Schroeder Barchart Wed Jul 2, 5:33PM CDT
Two cows looking at camera by Clara Bastian via iStock

Live cattle futures pushed higher into the Wednesday close, with contracts up $1.70 to $1.90 in the nearbys. The Wednesday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed $218 bids on 984 of the 1,064 head offered, with another BidTheGrid™ sale at $228 in IA. Outside of that, sales of $230-231 were reported in NE. Feeder cattle futures were up $3 to $3.25 on Wednesday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $1.00 to $314.10 on July 1. 

USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Wednesday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread narrowing to $14.55. Choice boxes were down 74 to $394.86, while Select was quoted 25 cents higher at $380.31/cwt. USDA’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter for Wednesday was estimated at 122,000 head, with the weekly total at 360,000 head. That was 13,000 head above the previous week and 4,283 head more vs. the same week last year.

Aug 25 Live Cattle  closed at $212.450, up $1.700,

Oct 25 Live Cattle  closed at $209.700, up $1.900,

Dec 25 Live Cattle  closed at $210.125, up $1.775,

Aug 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $309.025, up $3.000,

Sep 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $308.875, up $3.225,

Oct 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $306.425, up $3.000,


On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.