Cattle futures mostly gained Wednesday, helped along by bullish Choice wholesale beef values.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of 39¢ higher. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.25 higher, except for 15¢ lower in waning Mar.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was light on very light demand in the western Corn Belt through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service. There were a few FOB live trades at $213/cwt.
Elsewhere, trade was mostly inactive on very light demand.
Last week, FOB live prices were $210 in the Southern Plains and $212-$215 in the North. Dressed delivered prices were $335.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $3.11 higher Wednesday afternoon at $338.30/cwt. Select was $2.48 higher at $316.53.
Grain and Soybean were lower Wednesday with follow-through concerns including early-planting pressure, tariff wonderments and the upcoming USDA Grain Stocks and Planting Intentions reports.
Toward the close and through Sep ’25 contracts, Corn futures were 5¢ to 6¢ lower. Kansas City Wheat futures were mostly 5¢ to 6¢ lower. Soybean futures were fractionally mixed to 1¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed lower Wednesday, led by tech stocks and news of new U.S. tariffs on auto imports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 132 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 64 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 372 points.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME were 78¢ to 94¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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Total pounds of beef in freezers Feb. 28 were 6% less than the previous month and 2% less year over year, according to the latest USDA Cold Storage report.
Frozen pork supplies were up 4% from the previous month but down 8% from last year.
Total red meat supplies in freezers were 1% less than the prior month and 5% less than the same time last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies were up 2% from the previous month but down 3% from a year earlier.