Cattle futures edged higher Wednesday with fundamental support and simmering ahead of cash direction.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 40¢ higher, except for 5¢ lower in the back contract.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 23¢ higher, except for 25¢ lower in spot Feb.
Corn futures closed mostly 2¢ to 3¢ lower.
KC HRW Wheat futures closed 5¢ to 9¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed mostly 5¢ to 9¢ higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on very light demand to a standstill through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, live prices were $155/cwt. in the Southern Plains and Nebraska, and $156-$158 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed prices were $248-$250.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.36 lower Wednesday afternoon at $268.28/cwt. Select was 59¢ lower at $251.80/cwt.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed narrowly mixed Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 9 points higher. The S&P 500 closed fractionally lower. The NASDAQ was down 20 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed narrowly mixed through the front six contracts, from 10¢ lower to 2¢ higher.
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Total pounds of beef in freezers Dec. 31 were 4% more than the previous month and 7% more than the previous year, according to the monthly Cold Storage report from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Frozen pork supplies were up 1% from the prior month and up 16% from last year.
Combined, total red meat supplies in freezers were 2% more than the previous month and 11% more than last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies were up 7% from the prior month and up 23% from a year earlier.