Chicago | Reuters — Benchmark live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) rose on Thursday for a third straight session on steady to firmer cash cattle markets and position-squaring a day ahead of a monthly U.S. government feedlot report, analysts said.
Most-active CME February live cattle futures settled up 1.15 cents at 155.4 cents/lb. after reaching 155.45 cents, the contract’s highest since Nov. 2 (all figures US$). The spot December contract rose 0.95 cent to finish at 152.75 cents/lb. CME January feeder cattle jumped 2.5 cents to settle at 179.975 cents/lb.
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“The cash market seems pretty firm. We would have thought steady to lower this week,” said Doug Houghton, analyst at Brock Capital Management.
Packers are buying cattle for a shortened week of slaughter next week due to the Nov. 24 Thanksgiving holiday. But they will have fewer days to buy cattle for a full schedule the week after Thanksgiving.
Market-ready cattle traded in Kansas at $151-$152 per hundredweight (cwt), up $1-$2 from last week, and in Texas at $150-$151/cwt, steady to $1 higher, traders said.
Brokers await the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly Cattle on Feed report on Friday. Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to report the number of cattle in U.S. feedlots as of Nov. 1 at 11.745 million head, down 1.7 per cent from a year ago. Analysts on average estimated feedlot placements in October at 2.168 million head, down 3.5 per cent from a year ago.
Wholesale beef prices were nearly flat as of Thursday afternoon. USDA reported choice cuts at $257.10/cwt, up a penny from Wednesday, while select cuts rose 39 cents at $231.74/cwt.
CME lean hog futures closed mostly higher in technical moves, with the most-active February contract settling up 0.45 cent at 90.8 cents/lb. But front-month December fell 0.6 cent to end at 84.975 cents as cash hog prices softened.
The CME Lean Hog Index, a two-day weighted average of cash hog prices, declined to $88.22/cwt, its lowest since February.
— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.
