Early dressed trade picked up a couple of dollars in the North Thursday…feedlot placements in November were almost 5% fewer than a year earlier… coming up on your Cattle Current Market Update with Wes Ishmael.
Cash fed cattle trade started Thursday at $190/cwt. in Nebraska, which was $2 more than last week. Though too few to trend, there were also some early live sales in the western Corn Belt at $120 and early dressed sales at $190, both $3 more than last week.
Cattle futures closed mostly higher ahead of the monthly Cattle on Feed report (see below), which will likely be viewed as neutral to a touch bearish.
Except for 50¢ higher in spot Dec and 17¢-27¢ lower at the back, Live Cattle futures closed 10¢ to 30¢ higher.
Other than 30¢ higher in the back two contracts, Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.02 higher.
Corn futures closed mostly 5¢ to 6¢ lower through Jul ’20 and then fractionally lower to 2¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed 4¢ to 6¢ lower.
Wholesale beef values were firm to higher on good demand and light offerings, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 77¢ higher Thursday afternoon at $212.47/cwt. Select was 41¢ higher at $205.26.
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Major U.S. financial indices took another sharp turn south on Thursday. The growing likelihood of a partial government shutdown roiled already volatile markets. According to various reports, President Trump will veto any stopgap funding measure that doesn’t include money for a border wall. The deadline for a resolution is at midnight Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 464 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 39 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 108 points.
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Cattle feeders placed 4.91% fewer cattle on feed in November (1.996 million head), according to the monthly Cattle on Feed report. The report accounts for feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity. A majority of estimates ahead of the report projected a decrease of about 6%.
As for placement weights, 52.36% went on feed weighing less than 700 lbs.; 36.62% weighing 700-899 lbs.; 11.02% weighing more than 900 lbs.
November marketings of 1,869 million head were 1.36% more than a year earlier, which was in line with most pre-report estimates. That’s the most for the month since the data series began in 1996.
Cattle on feed Dec. 1 of 11.739 million head were 1.94% more than last year, a touch more than pre-report estimates.