Cattle futures closed higher Friday, continuing to ride bullish fundamentals and stronger cash prices.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of $1.88 higher.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $2.38 higher.
Week to week on Friday, Live Cattle futures closed an average of $2.25 higher. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.85 higher during the same period (52¢ higher at the back to $4.42 higher at the front).
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was mostly limited on good demand in all major cattle feeding regions through Friday afternoon, with too few transactions to trend, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
For the week, FOB live prices were $6 higher in the Texas Panhandle at mostly $218/cwt., $5-$8 higher in Kansas at mostly $218, $4-$5 higher in Nebraska at $222-$223 and $5 higher in the western Corn Belt at $222-$223.
Dressed delivered prices were $7-$10 higher in Nebraska at $350 and $8-$10 higher in the western Corn Belt at $350.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 27¢ lower Friday afternoon at $342.90/cwt. Select was $1.07 higher at $325.35. Week to week on Friday, Choice was $6.42 higher and Select was $5.24 higher.
Grain and Soybean futures closed higher Friday, helped along by the week’s bullish outside markets and what was considered to be a sign of easing tariff tensions with China.
Corn futures closed mostly 1¢ to 2¢ higher, except for 3¢ lower in the front two contracts.
Kansas City Wheat futures closed 11¢ to 13¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed mostly 5¢ to 7¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Friday, buoyed by a stronger national employment report than expected.
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 177,000 in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2%.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls in April rose by 6¢ to $36.06. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 564 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 82 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 266 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed 56¢ to 95¢ lower through the front six contracts.
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Cattle feeders continue to demonstrate their ability to add days and pounds to fed cattle.
Estimated total cattle slaughter last week of 559,000 head was 4,000 head more than the previous week but 63,000 head fewer than the same week last year. Year-to-date estimated total cattle slaughter of 10.1 million head was 649,000 head less (-6.0%) than the same period last year. Year-to-date estimated beef production of 8.8 billion pounds was 214.3 million pounds less (-2.4%).
At the same time, Josh Maples, Extension livestock economist at Mississippi State University points out the percentage of carcasses grading Choice and higher continues to increase.
“Choice carcasses represented about 50-55% of the cattle in the 2000s but have been more recently hovering in the 75% range,” Maples says, in the most recent issue of Cattle Market Notes Weekly. “Genetic improvements, cow-calf and stocker management practices and feedlot technologies have played roles in this increase. It is also worth noting the more recent increase in carcasses grading prime. About 3-4% of cattle graded prime in the 2000s compared to 10-12% in recent years. For the past few weeks, more cattle have graded prime than select.”