Profit taking seemed to be the order of the day in Cattle futures on Monday, especially in nearby contracts, but far from aggressive.
After 40¢ to $1.97 lower in the front three contracts (an average of $1.16 lower), Live Cattle futures closed from unchanged to an average of 28¢ higher.
After 27¢ to 72¢ lower in the front three contracts (an average of 55¢ lower), Feeder Cattle futures closed from unchanged to an average of 21¢ higher except for 15¢ lower in Sep.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.83 higher Monday afternoon at $210.57/cwt. Select was $1.69 higher at $194.77.
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Major U.S. financial indices edged higher on Monday amid continued positive quarterly earning reports, supported by merger and acquisition activity.
Incidentally, the nascent rally in Crude Oil (WTI) took another step higher on Monday, reportedly due to uncertainty created by a financial scandal that included a key Saudi Arabian investor in Middle Eastern markets. Front-month futures were about $3 higher week to week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 9 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 3 points higher. The NASDAQ closed 22 points higher.
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U.S. beef exports for September edged higher in volume and jumped substantially in value, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).
Although lower than the previous month, September beef export volume improved 2% from a year ago (103,552 mt), while export value topped $600 million for the fourth consecutive month ($616.9 million), which was 16% more than the previous year.
For January-September U.S. beef export volume was 9% more (926,985 mt) and value was 16% higher ($5.27 billion), which was 2% above of the record pace established in 2014.
September beef export value averaged $289.14 per head of fed slaughter, up 13% from a year ago. January-September export value averaged $277.31 per head, up 10%.
“USMEF is pleased to see solid demand continuing for U.S. beef in Japan, and this is a testament to the strong, well-established relationships with our loyal customers and the success of U.S. beef promotional campaigns in Japan,” explained Philip Seng, USMEF CEO. “But the 11.5% duty rate increase needs to be closely monitored to ascertain where market dislocation will occur. We are watching this situation carefully and remain very concerned about the widening gap in duty rates between U.S. beef and Australian beef.”