Negative outside markets and the lack of cash fed cattle direction helped pressure Cattle futures on Tuesday.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 96¢ lower (47¢ lower at the back to $1.62 lower), except for 17¢ higher in Aug.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 38¢ lower, except no change in spot Apr.
Grain and Soybean futures were under pressure Tuesday from a variety of geo-political and geo-economic forces including cancellation of recent U.S. corn purchases by China to chatter that the Black Sea Initiative would be extended once again.
Corn futures closed narrowly mixed, mostly 1¢ lower to 1¢ higher.
KC HRW Wheat closed 9¢ to 14¢ lower through May ‘24 and then mostly 1¢ to 5¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed mostly 6¢ to 10¢ lower.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on light demand to a standstill through Tuesday afternoon, with too few transactions to trend, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, live prices were $175/cwt. in the Texas Panhandle, $173-$175 in Kansas, $180-$185 in Nebraska and $180-$183 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed prices were $284-$290 in Nebraska and $288 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 51¢ higher Tuesday afternoon at $307.63/cwt. Select was $1.08 lower at $287.62/cwt.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed sharply lower amid resurgent banking fears fueled by a sell-off in First Republic Bank which issued an alarming quarterly corporate earnings report: deposits of $104.5 billion were 35.5% less year over year; net income was down 32.9% at $269 million.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 344 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 65 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 238 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed $1.69 to $1.88 lower through the front six contracts.
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Total pounds of beef in freezers Mar. 31 were down 4% from the previous month and down 10% from the previous year, according to the latest USDA Cold Storage report.
Frozen pork supplies were 2% more than the previous month and 10% more than last year.
Total red meat supplies in freezers were down 1% from the previous month and down 1% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies were 1% more than the previous month and 9% more than a year ago.