Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from inactive on light demand to limited on light demand through Thursday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
So far this week, live prices are $1 higher in the Southern Plains at $171/cwt., $2-$4 higher in Nebraska at $180-$182 and $4-$5 higher in the western Corn Belt at $182. Dressed prices are $4-$5 higher in Nebraska at $285-$286 and $3-$5 higher in the western Corn Belt at $285.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.64 higher Thursday afternoon at $299.94/cwt. Select was 75¢ higher at $284.54/cwt.
Cattle futures continued to edge higher Thursday, supported by the week’s stronger cash prices.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 25¢ higher, except for unchanged at either end of the board.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 51¢ higher (25¢ to $1.20 higher in spot Jun).
Corn futures closed mostly 2¢ to 4¢ lower Thursday with likely profit taking and positioning ahead of the long weekend.
KC HRW Wheat closed mostly unchanged to 5¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed mostly 9¢ to 12¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed mixed Thursday with gains in tech stocks but overall uncertainty tied to the debt ceiling talks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 35 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 36 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 213 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed $2.08 to $2.51 lower through the front six contracts.
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Rural economic growth improved last month, according to the Rural Mainstreet Index, which increased from 50.1 in April to 55.8 in May. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.
“The Rural Mainstreet economy continues to experience slow economic growth,” says Ernie Goss, the Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. “Only 11.5% of bankers reported improving economic conditions for the month, with 88.5% indicating no change in economic conditions from April’s slow growth.”
After declining below growth neutral for March, the overall Rural Mainstreet Index expanded above the threshold for a second straight month, according to the May 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 dropped to 56.3 from April’s 64.6. This was the 32nd straight month that the index has advanced above 50.0.
Bankers reported that non-pasture farmland prices in their area grew by an average of 4.3% over the past 12 months. Respondents expected no price growth over the next 12 months.
The May loan volume index expanded to a strong 75.0 from 62.5 in April. The checking-deposit index plummeted to a second consecutive low of 22.0 from April’s 25.0, while the index for certificates of deposit and other savings instruments declined to 70.0 from April’s 74.0.
“Two consecutive record low checking deposit indices point to higher deposit outflows, even for community banks,” Goss says.