Cash fed cattle prices jumped Thursday with moderate trade and good demand in all regions, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Live prices were $2-$4 higher in the Texas Panhandle at $165-$167/cwt., mostly $4 higher in Kansas at $167, $5-$6 higher in Nebraska at $169-$171 and mostly $4-$5 higher in the western Corn Belt at $170. Dressed prices were mostly $5 higher at $270, with a few up to $275 in Nebraska and a few up to $276 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.09 lower Thursday afternoon at $279.20/cwt. Select was 44¢ lower at $268.46/cwt.
Stronger cash prices pulled Cattle futures higher.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.58 higher, (from 95¢ higher in expiring Mar to $1.92 higher).
Live Cattle futures closed an average of $1.03 higher (80¢ to $1.72 higher).
Corn futures closed mostly 3¢ to 4¢ lower through Jly ‘24, and then mostly 1¢ lower.
KC HRW Wheat closed mostly 1¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed mostly fractionally lower to 3¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher again Thursday. Support included an increase in weekly unemployment insurance claims, which some viewed as another prompt for the Fed to ease monetary tightening.
Initial claims were 198,000 for the week ending March 25, which was 7,000 more than the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The four-week moving average of 198,250 was 2,000 more than the previous four-week average.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 141 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 23 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 87 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed $1.22 to $1.40 higher through the front six contracts.
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Retail beef prices are historically high but have risen relatively less than competing meat proteins.
“The all fresh retail beef price in February was nearly $7.23 per pound, which is a slight increase from January but 6¢ lower than February of the previous year,” says Andrew P. Griffith, agricultural economist at the University of Tennessee, in his weekly market comments. “This compares to a price of $6.30 per pound in February 2021 and $5.94 per pound in 2020. Thus, the all fresh retail beef price was 22% higher in February 2023 than it was in February 2020.”
By way of comparison, compared to three years earlier, Griffith says February retail prices were 23% more for pork and 39% more for broilers. Across the same period, he notes a dozen eggs cost 191% more and a gallon of milk is 30% higher.
“These prices demonstrate some of the pressure placed on consumers for staple proteins,” Griffith says. “How consumers shift expenditures of disposable income will determine demand for each of the items.”