Cattle futures closed mostly a touch lower Tuesday but off of session lows as traders await this week’s cash fed cattle direction.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of 33¢ lower, except for an average of 56¢ higher in the front two contracts.
Feeder Cattle futures were an average of 36¢ lower, except for 25¢ higher in spot Mar.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was mostly inactive on very light demand in all major cattle feeding regions through Tuesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
FOB live prices last week were $210/cwt. in the Southern Plains and $212-$215 in the North. Dressed delivered prices were $335.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $8.09 higher Tuesday afternoon at $335.19/cwt. Select was 47¢ higher at $324.05.
Grain and Soybean futures were lower Tuesday. Apparently, pressure included increased trader wariness regarding the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) recent proposal to impose new, steep levies on Chinese-built and operated ocean carries arriving at U.S. ports, which would likely disrupt trade and decrease domestic price competitiveness in the global market.
Toward the close and through Sep ’25 contracts, Corn futures were 3¢ to 6¢ lower. Kansas City Wheat futures were 6¢ to 7¢ lower. Soybean futures were fractionally higher to 5¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices edged higher Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 4 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 9 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 83 points.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME were 5¢ to 7¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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Challenges linger in the rural economy, based on the latest Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI). It rose 3.1 points month to month in March but remained below growth neutral for 18th time in the past 19 months.
The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral. It’s based on a monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy.
“The economic outlook for 2025 farm income remains weak according to bank CEOs. However, farm commodity prices have recently improved, but not enough for profitability among a high share of producers,” says Ernie Goss, the Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.
Approximately 62.9% of bankers expect 2025 farm income to be lower than last year’s weak level. Only 3.7% of bank CEOs predict 2025 farm income to expand from 2024’s level.
“Weak grain prices and negative farm cash flows, combined with downturns in farm equipment sales over the past several months, continued to push banker confidence lower,” Goss says.