Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was slow on light to moderate demand in Nebraska and the western Corn Belt through Thursday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Dressed prices were steady in Nebraska at $248/cwt. and steady to $2 lower in the western Corn Belt at $248.
Last week, live prices were $155/cwt. in the Southern Plains and Nebraska, and $156-$158 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 47¢ higher Thursday afternoon at $268.75/cwt. Select was 32¢ lower at $251.48/cwt.
Cattle futures faltered Thursday with weaker early cash fed cattle trade and firmer Corn futures.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.09 lower, except for 17¢ higher in expiring Jan.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 68¢ lower.
Corn futures closed 4¢ to 7¢ higher through the front three contracts, and then mostly 1¢ to 2¢ higher.
KC HRW Wheat futures closed mostly 12¢ to 16¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed 13¢ to 21¢ higher through the front six contracts, and then mostly 5¢ to 7¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices rose Thursday, supported by more domestic economic growth than expected.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022, after increasing 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The increase in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in inventory investment and consumer spending that were partly offset by a decrease in housing investment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 205 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 44 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 199 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed 64¢ to 86¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) rose to 53.8 — above growth neutral — in January from 50.1 the previous month. The index was below growth neutral the previous six months. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.
“The Rural Mainstreet economy continues to experience improving, but slow, economic growth,” says Ernie Goss, the Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. “Almost 85% of bankers ranked rising input prices as the top economic challenge or threat to farmers in their area.”
The RMI is based on a monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
The region’s farmland price index climbed to 66.0 in January from December’s 65.4. This was the 28th straight month that the index registered above 50.0.
“Higher input costs are the only major problem on the near time horizon,” says James Brown, CEO of Hardin County Savings Bank in Eldora, Iowa.