Although sideways, Cattle futures wobbled Wednesday as traders added risk premium back to Corn futures, which closed 9¢ to 11¢ higher through Jly ‘24 and then mostly 3¢ to 5¢ higher.
KC HRW Wheat closed 12¢ to 17¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed 9¢ to 15¢ higher.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 28¢ lower, except for 18¢ higher in May ’24.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 35¢ higher, except for an average of 16¢ lower in two contracts.
Through mid session today, Cattle futures are stronger.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from limited on light demand to a standstill through Wednesday afternoon with too few transactions to trend, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service
Last week, FOB live prices were $178-$179/cwt. in the Texas Panhandle, $179 in Kansas, $185-$188 in Nebraska and $186-$188 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were $294-$295 in Nebraska and $290-$295 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was unchanged Wednesday afternoon at $317.05/cwt. Select was $2.08 higher at $291.59/cwt.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Wednesday, led by tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 184 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 48 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 215 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed 70¢ to 76¢ lower through the front six contracts.
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Frozen beef supplies last month continued significantly lower year over year, according to the most recent USDA Cold Storage report. Total pounds of beef in freezers July 31 were 2% more than the previous month but were 18% less than the same time last year.
Frozen pork supplies were down 3% from the previous month and down 10% from last year.
Total red meat supplies in freezers were down slightly from the previous month and down 14% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies were 1% less than the previous month but 4% more year over year.