Cattle futures were lower Wednesday, with overbought conditions and the lack of weekly cash direction.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of 73¢ lower. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.11 lower.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was slow on light demand in the western Corn Belt through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service. There were a few FOB live trades at $187/cwt., but too few to trend. Elsewhere, trade was at a standstill.
Last week, FOB live prices were $186 in the Southern Plains, $187 in Nebraska and $187-$188 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were $296.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.34 higher Wednesday afternoon at $308.18/cwt. Select was 2¢ higher at $288.63.
Turning to grains, toward the close and through Sep ’25 contracts, Corn futures were fractionally mixed. Kansas City Wheat futures were 4¢ to 5¢ higher. Soybean futures were mostly 2¢ to 5¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher again Wednesday, led by tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 431 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 49 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 108 points.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME were 21¢ to 55¢ lower through the front six contracts.