The five-area direct average steer price last week was $2.81 higher at $139.66/cwt. The average steer price in the beef was $3.79 higher at $221.79.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from inactive on very light demand to a standstill through Monday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).
Last week, live sales were at $140 in the Texas Panhandle, $139-$140 in Kansas $138-$140 in Nebraska and $140 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed trade was at $222 in Nebraska and at $220-$222 in the western Corn Belt.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 27¢ lower, except for unchanged to 7¢ higher in the back three contracts.
Choice Boxed beef cutout value was 85¢ lower at $278.96/cwt. Select was $1.01 lower at $275.04
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 63¢ lower, under pressure from Corn futures, which closed 14¢ to 15¢ higher in the front three contracts and then mostly 5¢ to 7¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed mostly 14¢ to 28¢ higher.
******************************
Major U.S. financial indices closed mixed Monday, amid mixed quarterly earning reports and pressured most by tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1 point higher. The S&P 500 closed 16 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 82 points.
******************************
Barring significant drought-spawned early feedlot placements or some other market disruption, feedlot inventories should be noticeably lower as this year continues, says Derrell Peel, Extension livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, in his weekly market comments.
In fact, Peel says the ratio of feedlot inventories to feeder cattle supplies — a measure of how intensively the feeder cattle supply is being used — was record low Jan. 1 at 57.5%.
“Stated another way, there are only 1.74 head of feeder cattle available to replace the cattle currently in feedlots,” Peel says. He explains feedlot inventories peaked in February last year, on a monthly basis, but peaked in June last year when considering the 12-month moving average of feedlot inventories, which allows month to month comparisons without seasonality.
Recent-month placements consisted mostly of light-weight cattle as feedlots sought to maintain inventory.
“Feedlots have been borrowing against the future to hold feedlot inventories as high as possible to this point, and the ability to do that will decrease in the next few months,” Peel says. “The estimated supply of feeder cattle, calculated from Jan. 1 inventories of steers over 500 lbs, other (non-replacement) heifers over 500 lbs., and calves under 500 lbs., with current feedlot inventories subtracted was at 25.54 million head, down 2.6% year over year.”