Cattle futures were sharply higher Thursday, buoyed by stronger wholesale beef values and the prospects of steady to higher cash fed cattle trade again this week.
Toward the close, Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $3.79 higher. Live Cattle futures were an average of $2.47 higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on very light demand in the Southern Plains to a standstill in North through Thursday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, FOB live prices were $191/cwt., in the Southern Plains on a light test, $195-$195.50 in Nebraska and $195-$196 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were $305.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $4.41 higher Thursday afternoon at $320.39/cwt. Select was $2.02 higher at $288.77.
Grain and Soybean futures bounced higher Thursday, perhaps with short covering and perceived value buying.
Toward the close and through Sep ’25 contracts, Corn futures were 4¢ to 6¢ higher. Kansas City Wheat futures were 8¢ higher. Soybean futures were 12¢ to 16¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed narrowly mixed Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 28 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 2 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 10 points.
Through late afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME closed 37¢ to 50¢ lower through the front six contracts.
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The Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) sank below growth neutral in December after advancing above growth neutral in November for the first time since July 2023. The index is based on a monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
Month to month, the overall index sank 10.6 points to 39.6 in December, the 11th time this year the reading was below growth neutral. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.
“In retrospect, and based on bank CEO comments, there appears to have been a significant November upturn resulting from the surprising Trump election results,” says Ernie Goss, the Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. “That positive bump disappeared in December as continuing weak grain prices and farm income losses weighed on a significant proportion of farmers in the region.”
Approximately one in four bankers reported that their local economy was either currently in a recession or would enter a downturn in 2025. The remaining three of four bankers expect slow growth but no recession for 2025.
Rural bankers remain pessimistic about economic growth for their area over the next six months, according to the RMI confidence index, which slumped to 37.5 from November’s weak 46.4.
Weak agriculture commodity prices and negative farm cash flow, combined with downturns in farm equipment sales over the past several months drove the decline in confidence, according to Goss.
The region’s farmland index fell to 41.3 from November’s weak 44.4.
Month to month, the farm equipment sales index declined 0.3 points to 14.3, its lowest level since October 2016 and the 17th consecutive month of settling below growth neutral.