Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Wednesday afternoon.
There were 627 head offered in the weekly Fed Cattle Exchange auction and no takers.
After hints of early support, Cattle futures trailed lower Wednesday, pressured by the ongoing retreat of open interest in Live Cattle, softer wholesale beef values and the lack of cash direction.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 69¢ lower.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.59 lower.
Wholesale beef values were steady to firm on light to moderate demand and offerings, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 21¢ lower Wednesday afternoon at $210.72/cwt. Select was 43¢ higher at $207.94.
Corn futures closed mostly 1¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed mostly fractionally higher to 1¢ higher
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Major U.S. financial indices charged higher Wednesday. Runaway fears over novel coronavirus continued to subside with chatter about development of an effective vaccine. Investors also took heart in positive economic news.
For instance, private-sector, non-farm employment increased by 291,000 jobs from December to January according to the ADP National Employment Report®. That was more than the trade expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 483 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 37 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 40 points.
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Today’s Cattle Current is abbreviated, as I’m at the Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio where the Cattlemen’s College was held Wednesday. Based on sessions I attended, there was lots of focus on sustainability and part of that being the continued evolution of the cattle and beef industries away from commodity production toward specification, value-added production…more tomorrow.