A surge in Lean Hog futures and oversold conditions helped lift Cattle futures on Tuesday, despite last week’s lower cash fed cattle trade and faltering wholesale beef values.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $2.45 lower on Tuesday afternoon at $205.58/cwt. Select was $2.15 lower at $199.89.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 55¢ higher (5¢ to 92¢ higher).
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.00 higher (72¢ to $1.27 higher).
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Major U.S. financial indices surged sharply higher early in the session on Tuesday before whiplashing to a slightly lower close. Some analysts credited the potential government shutdown as the cause. A spending bill or some other intervention needs to pass by the end of the week in order to prevent a shutdown. Then again, maybe it was more a matter of rally fatigue and rationality.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 10 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 9 points lower. The NASDAQ closed 37 points lower.
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“International price quotations for bovine meat fell (last month), pressured by increased offerings in both domestic and international markets,” according to analysts with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). “However, pig, poultry and ovine meat quotations changed only little, reflecting an overall balanced supply and demand situation.”
The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 171.6 points in December, marginally below its slightly revised value of November. For 2017, the FAO Meat Price Index averaged 170 points, up 9% from the previous year but 4.7% below the average for the preceding five years (2012-2016).