(USDA.gov via Flickr)

U.S. cattle placements spike in August

Chicago | Reuters — Ranchers placed 1.93 million cattle in U.S. feedlots in August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday, in a stronger-than-expected report likely to weigh on futures early next week. Cattle placements rose about three per cent from August in 2016, USDA said. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a decline […] Read more

(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: CME October hogs fall to contract low

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange October lean hog futures fell sharply to a contract low on Thursday, weighed down by a months-long decline in cash prices and abundant supplies, traders said. Deferred hog futures contracts as well as most live cattle and feeder cattle contracts also eased on technical selling and profit-taking. Traders […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle surge on cash optimism, technical buying

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures notched their biggest gains in 11 months on Wednesday, boosted by optimism for higher cash cattle prices and technical buying, traders and analysts said. Higher cattle sales at a weekly online auction helped to trigger the rally. Feeder cattle and lean hog futures also were […] Read more



(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures ease on big supplies, spreading

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures were mostly lower on Monday, pressured by bear-spreading and big U.S. supplies that continued to weigh on cash markets, traders said. The front-month October hogs contract notched the biggest declines, easing 0.975 cent, or about 1.7 per cent, to settle at 60 cents/lb. (all figures […] Read more




(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hogs narrowly mixed on pre-USDA consolidation

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle and lean hog futures were flat to narrowly mixed on Monday as investors consolidated positions ahead of a government livestock and crop report due on Tuesday, traders and analysts said. Some live cattle contracts eked out small gains following modestly higher sales in U.S. Plains cash […] Read more



(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. grains: Wheat, corn drop to contract lows

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat and corn futures dropped to life-of-contract lows on Monday, weighed down by technical selling and abundant global supplies, traders and analysts said. Chicago Board of Trade September wheat futures fell about 2.4 per cent, settling down 9-1/2 cents at $4, in a bear-spreading decline as some investors dumped spot […] Read more