Cattle futures continued a downward correction Thursday.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 60¢ lower.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 93¢ lower (37¢ to $1.85 lower).
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from slow on light demand to moderate on moderate demand through Thursday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
So far this week, FOB live prices are steady to $1 higher in the Southern Plains at $183/cwt., steady in Nebraska at $183 and steady to $1 higher in the western Corn Belt at $183-$184. Dressed delivered prices are $2 lower in Nebraska at $290 and steady to $2 lower in the western Corn Belt at $290.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.17 higher Thursday afternoon at $304.20/cwt. Select was $1.24 higher at $294.18/cwt.
Corn futures closed mostly fractionally higher to 2¢ higher.
KC HRW Wheat futures closed 2¢ to 7¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed 1¢ to 5¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Thursday, buoyed by tech stocks and a friendly inflation reading. The Consumer Price Expenditures Index was in line with expectations, increasing 0.4% month to month, excluding food and energy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 47 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 26 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 144 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed 28¢ to 40¢ lower through the front six contracts.
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Creighton University’s overall Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) sank below growth neutral for the sixth consecutive month in February. The index is based on a survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
Specifically, the February index declined month to month from 48.1 to 46.2. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.
“Higher interest rates, weaker agriculture commodity prices and a credit squeeze are having a significant and negative impact on Rural Mainstreet businesses and on Rural Mainstreet farmers,” says Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.
Almost three-fourths of bank CEOs named low farm commodity prices as the biggest risk for farms in 2024.
“Commodity prices that are $1.50 to $2.00 per bushel (corn) less than break-even are obviously not sustainable,” says Jeff Bonnett, CEO of Havana National Bank in Havana, Ill.