As expected, negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Tuesday afternoon.
Cattle futures closed mostly narrowly lower, amid light holiday trade.
Except for 2¢ to 60¢ higher in three contracts, Live Cattle futures closed an average of 26¢ lower.
Except for 2¢ higher in Sep, Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 13¢ lower.
Wholesale beef values were steady on Choice and lower on Select with light to moderate demand and heavy offerings, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 24¢ lower Tuesday afternoon at $209.42/cwt. Select was $3.29 lower at $202.12.
Corn futures closed fractionally lower to 1¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed 1¢ to 3¢ higher (mostly 1¢ higher).
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Tuesday, recovering about half of the previous session’s losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 76 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 9 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 26 points.
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“The U.S. economy will enter 2020 decisively split, powered by a resilient and confident consumer, but hamstrung by a risk-averse business sector that has stopped investing,” say analysts with CoBank Knowledge Exchange Division (CKED), in that organization’s 2020 outlook. “And now that the stimulus effects from the 2017 tax reform and the 2018 spending bill have faded, the expansion will show its age, losing steam in the coming year.”
Depending on which data you assess, domestic economic growth, as measured by Gross National Product (GNP) will continue to grow at a slow pace in 2020.
As an example, in its forecast for the U.S. economy, the Conference Board pegs real annual GDP at 2.0% in 2020, compared to expectations of 2.3% in 2019.
However, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, “The consensus of professional forecasters is that real GDP growth will dip below 2% in 2020.
Real GDP growth in 2020 could rise above 2% if the economy’s headwinds—trade disputes and slowing global growth—were to diminish.”
Hopefully part of those headwinds will lose some force with the announced phase-one trade deal between the U.S. and China.