Cattle futures tried to build on the previous day’s gains early in Tuesday’s session but quickly lost traction, amid sluggish two-sided trade with more uncertainly than direction.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 48¢ lower through the front three contracts (5¢ to 67¢ lower) and then an average of 42¢ higher.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 57¢ lower across the front half of the board (10¢ to 85¢ lower) and then an average of 28¢ higher.
There were a handful of early negotiated cash fed cattle live sales reported in Nebraska on Tuesday at $126/cwt., but there were too few transactions to trend.
Wholesale beef values were little changed Tuesday with Choice boxed beef cutout value 12¢ higher in the afternoon at $223.35/cwt. Select was 36¢ higher at $215.20.
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Major U.S. financial indices edged higher on Tuesday, as folks tried to sort out the potential of President Trump moving forward with his announced tariffs on aluminum and steel. There’s plenty of backlash and uncertainty.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 9 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 7 points higher. The NASDAQ closed 41 points higher.
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Producer sentiment increased 5 points in February to 140—the second consecutive month of improved optimism—according to the most recent Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. But, producers continued to indicate uncertainty surrounding a possible U.S. withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The barometer is based on a monthly survey of 400 U.S. agricultural producers.
“In early 2017, producer sentiment was largely driven by an uptick in the future-looking measure of producer sentiment, the Index of Future Expectations,” explains James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “More recently, the barometer’s upturn has been driven in part by a shift toward more positive sentiment regarding current farm financial conditions, as measured by the Index of Current Conditions.”
In the recent survey, researchers asked agricultural producers about the likelihood of the U.S. withdrawing from NAFTA. On a scale of 1-9, the most common response at 39% was a neutral rating of 5, while 34% of respondents said they thought a U.S. NAFTA withdrawal was likely (a rating of 6 or higher), and 29% thought withdrawal was unlikely (a rating of 4 or lower).
“Taken as a whole, the February survey indicates that producers are really uncertain about the future of NAFTA,” Mintert says. “But despite the uncertainty surrounding NAFTA, producers remain optimistic about the future of U.S. agricultural exports.”
Half of responding producers said they expect U.S. agricultural exports to increase over the next five years, while another 37% said they expect exports to remain about the same. Only 13% expected U.S. agricultural exports to be lower five years from now.