Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained mostly undeveloped through Wednesday afternoon.
There were a few early dressed sales in the western Corn Belt for steady to $1 lower than last week at $174/cwt. A few live sales there were at $109-$111, but too few to trend.
There were 1,246 head offered in the weekly Fed Cattle Exchange auction Wednesday, and no sales.
A steep plunge on Wall Street helped pressure Cattle futures lower Wednesday.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 60¢ lower (32¢ to $1.27 lower in spot Oct).
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.16 lower.
Wholesale beef values were lower on light demand and light to moderate offerings, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 74¢ lower Wednesday afternoon at $202.11/cwt. Select was 95¢ lower at $191.77
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Major U.S. financial indices closed steeply lower Wednesday amid a massive sell-off led by tech stocks and fears about rising interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 831 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 94 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 315 points.
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Overall, pasture and range conditions improved again, according to the latest weekly Crop Progress report (week ending Oct. 9). Among states with 35% or more of pasture and range rated as Poor or Very Poor the previous week, conditions improved or stayed the same everywhere, except in Colorado and Idaho.
Nationally, 48% of pasture and range is in Good (40%) or Excellent (8%) condition, 1% more than a week earlier and 7% more than a year earlier. 22% is rated as Poor (14%) or Very Poor (8%), which is 1% less than a week earlier and 3% less than last year.
States with 35% or more pasture and range rated as Poor or Very Poor in the recent report include: Arizona (68%), California (60%), Colorado (62%), Idaho (43%), New Mexico (45%), Oregon (73%), Utah (63%) and Washington (56%).
Crop progress and harvest continues at a positive pace.
93% of the corn crop is mature, which is 13% more than last year and 10% more than the average. 34% is harvested, which is 13% more than last year and 8% more than average.
91% of soybeans are dropping leaves, which is 3% more than last year and 6% ahead of the average. 32% are harvested, which is 2% less than last year and 4% less than the average.
73% of sorghum is mature, which is 5% more than last and 1% more than average. 39% is harvested, which is 4% more than last year but 3% less than the average.
57% of winter wheat is planted, which is 11% more than last year and 3% more than the average. 30% has emerged, which is 7% more than last year and 2% more than the average.