Cattle Current Daily—Dec. 5, 2024

Cattle Current Daily—Dec. 5, 2024

Cattle futures tracked lower Wednesday as traders await the week’s cash fed cattle direction and Choice wholesale beef values struggle.

Toward the close, Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.46 lower.

Live Cattle futures were an average of 91¢ lower.

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on light demand in the North to a standstill in the Southern Plains through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.

Last week, FOB live prices were $190/cwt. in the Southern Plains, $190-$192 in Nebraska and $185-$190 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were $290 in Nebraska and $294-$305 in the western Corn Belt.

Choice boxed beef cutout value was $2.50 lower Wednesday afternoon at $308.33/cwt. Select was $2.37 higher at $277.70.

Grain and Soybean futures continued mixed again Wednesday with overall pressure including the strength of the U.S. dollar and uncertainty related to the coming shift in presidential administrations.

Toward the close and through Sep ’25 contracts, Corn futures were 1¢ to 2¢ lower. Kansas City Wheat futures were fractionally higher to 3¢ higher. Soybean futures were 6¢ to 7¢ lower.

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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Wednesday, fueled by tech stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 308 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 36 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 254 points.

Through midafternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME were $1.03 to $1.19 lower through the front six contracts.

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Fewer available cattle and increased wheat pasture prospects are key drivers of recent calf price increases, according to David Anderson, Extension livestock economist with Texas A&M University,

“Lighter-weight, 400-500 pound calf prices have jumped about $30/cwt. in the Southern Plains over the last month,” Anderson explains in the latest issue of In the Cattle Markets. “Heavier 500-600 pound steers are up around $20 per cwt and 700-800 pound feeders are up about $80 per cwt over the same period in the Southern Plains. Seasonal lows in the calf market are in the rearview mirror for 2024. Calf prices do tend to increase, seasonally, in the late Fall.”

Anderson says, it’s too soon to say if the restriction on Mexican cattle imports is affecting cash prices on this side of the border.

“Price impacts will depend on how long import delays last,” Anderson says.

2024-12-04T17:30:45-06:00

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