Cattle futures were higher again Tuesday.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of 70¢ higher. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.44 higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was at a standstill in all regions through Tuesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, FOB live prices were $204/cwt. in the Southern Plains and $208 in the North. Dressed delivered prices were $327-$328.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 13¢ lower Tuesday afternoon at $335.43/cwt. Select was 61¢ lower at $315.24.
Grain and Soybean futures softened Monday with likely continued profit taking.
Toward the close and through Sep ’25 contracts, Corn futures were mostly fractionally higher to 4¢ lower. Kansas City Wheat futures were 2¢ to 3¢ lower. Soybean futures were fractionally lower to 6¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices eased lower Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 155 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 9 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 8 points.
Through midafternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) were 1¢ to 30¢ lower through the front six contracts.
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Consumer financial sentiment may be even more influential on meat demand than income itself, according to a recent Meat Demand Monitor
special report by Glynn Tonsor, agricultural economist at Kansas State University and Justin Bina, from the Arizona State University agricultural economics department.
“To paraphrase, income stability (ideally growth) is likely necessary but not itself sufficient for meat demand support if the public is highly concerned about their finances,” Tonsor explains in the latest issue of In the Cattle Markets.
With that mind, Tonsor notes the decades-low level of consumer confidence portrayed by the recent closely watched University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment.
“U.S. consumer sentiment has declined by historic magnitudes so far in April,” Tonsor says. “Reaching pessimistic levels last seen in the early 1980s, consumers hold elevating expectations for inflation
and unemployment.
More specifically, consumers reflected by the University of Michigan data expect inflation to be 6.7% a year down the road and unemployment to be the highest since 2009.
“Recent years have been characterized by strong demand for U.S. beef, and hopefully for industry stakeholders, that can persist,” Tonsor says. “That said, macroeconomic history lessons and development of associated ‘storm clouds’ should not simply be ignored.”
Bottom line, Tonsor emphasizes never taking consumer beef demand for granted.