Cattle futures ended a dismal week on Friday, finding some stability across the back half of the board, from profit taking if nothing else.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.34 lower Friday afternoon at $194.29/cwt. Select was $1.70 lower at $192.50.
Live Cattle futures closed 32¢ to 75¢ lower through the front three contracts and then an average of 24¢ higher except for unchanged in Apr.
After 2¢ higher in spot Aug, Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 42¢ lower in the next three contracts (2¢ to 70¢ lower), and then an average of 99¢ higher across the back half of the board (17¢ to $1.67 higher).
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Major U.S. financial indices closed lower on Friday, but off of session lows, something of a rebound from the steep selloff a day earlier. More than anything, domestic politics seem to be the main driver—the revolving door in Trump’s White House, etc.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 76 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 4 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 5 points.
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“After weeks of holding the line, finished cattle prices are being driven down by seasonal supply and demand factors,” said Andrew P. Griffith, agricultural economist at the University of Tennessee, in his weekly market comments on Friday. “The price decline this week was larger than most analysts in the industry were expecting over a seven-day period. Additionally, cattle feeders recognize prices are deteriorating to levels below a year ago, which is cause for concern. There continues to be downside risk now that the market broke through the support level. The question now is if finished cattle prices will fall below the $1 level on a live basis, which happened last year. Not to bring optimism to a dismal situation, but deferred futures are holding well above the $1 price point and fed cattle basis remains strongly positive, which would support cash prices remaining above the $1 mark.”