At the end of Thursday’s trade live cattle futures were off their lows, but still down by triple digits in Dec and Feb. The other front months ended the session down by 70 to 87 cents. Feeders also came back some in the afternoon, but still ended the day $1.225 to $2 in the red. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was $139.44 on 12/02, down 43 cents. USDA reported Thursday cash sales were $107-$111. The bulk of activity for the week has been near $110 with $172-$174 in the beef. Wholesale boxed beef prices were lower again on Thursday with a $1.70 drop in Choice and a $3.02 drop in Select. Choice rib primals were quoted at $514.80 in the PM report. USDA’s weekly update for beef bookings was 13,747 MT. That was well above the 528 MT from the same week last year. Beef commitments are 916,982 MT, which is a record. USDA estimates the week to date cattle slaughter at 481k head through Thursday. That is up 1,000 yr/yr.
| Dec 20 Cattle are at $109.600, down $1.100, |
| Feb 21 Cattle are at $112.575, down $1.350, |
| Apr 21 Cattle are at $116.300, down $0.875, |
| Jan 21 Feeder Cattle are at $139.800, down $2.000 |
| Mar 21 Feeder Cattle are at $139.325, down $1.650 |
| Apr 21 Feeder Cattle are at $140.700, down $1.400 |
— provided by Brugler Marketing & Management