Cattle futures sputtered during Wednesday’s holiday-shortened session.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of 75¢ lower.
Feeder Cattle futures were narrowly mixed, from an average of 26¢ lower in five contracts to an average of 32¢ higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from moderate on moderate demand in Nebraska to limited on light to moderate demand in the western Corn Belt to mostly inactive on moderate demand in Kansas through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
So far this week, FOB live prices are steady to $1 higher in Kansas at $229 and $2 higher in Nebraska at $230, where dressed delivered prices are steady at $356-$358.
Last week, FOB live prices in the western Corn Belt were $228 and dressed delivered prices were $356-$358.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.15 lower Wednesday afternoon at $354.62/cwt. Select was $3.84 lower at $345.75.
Grain and Soybean futures were higher Wednesday with likely technical buying.
Toward the close, through near Jly contracts, Corn futures were 2¢ to 3¢ higher. KC HRW Wheat futures were 6¢ higher. Soybean futures were 11¢ to 12¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 288 points. The S&P 500 closed 22 points higher, and the NASDAQ closed 51 points higher.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) were 2¢ to 7¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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Creighton University’s Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) edged above growth neutral this month for only the second time this year.
The overall index rose 6 points month to month to 50.1, the highest since last July. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral. It is based on a monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
“Weak agriculture commodity prices and high input costs for grain producers continue to restrain economic activity in the 10-state region,” says Ernie Goss, the Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.
When asked to identify the most effective policy changes to boost farm income, half of the bank CEOs named the reduction of farm tariffs and trade restrictions as the most effective or useful.
“Tariffs continue to be a negative factor for the farming sector,” says Jeffrey Gerhart, former Chairman of the Independent Community Bankers Association. “We’ve worked hard to build good trading relationships with our trading partners across the globe, only to see it torn apart in less than 12 months.”
Rural bankers remain pessimistic about economic growth for their area over the next six months, although the December confidence index rose to 40.9, its highest reading since January of this year.