Cattle futures took a strong step higher Tuesday, buoyed by outside markets and the early-week increase in Choice wholesale beef values. There could also have been some knee-jerk reaction to President Trump’s executive order to waive penalties and defer taxes for highway use of red-dye diesel for the remainder of the year, but plenty of ambiguity surrounds the details in the order.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of $4.48 higher. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $8.21 higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was inactive on light demand in the North through Tuesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
FOB live prices last week were $220-$222/cwt. in Nebraska and mostly $219-220 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were mostly $345 in Nebraska and $345-$350 in the western Corn Belt. The Texas Cattle Feeders Association reported its members trading fed cattle at $226.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 67¢ higher Tuesday afternoon at $378.93/cwt. Select was $2.23 lower at $356.34.
Grain and Soybean futures rallied on Tuesday.
Through late afternoon, and through the front four contracts, Soybean futures were 20¢ to 24¢ higher with chatter about increasing Chinese interest, as well as harvest delays.
Kansas City HRW Wheat futures were 14¢ higher with likely increased war premium based on the war between Ukraine and Russia, along with weather-related planting delays in the Southern Plains.
Corn futures were 10¢ to 11¢ higher, supported by the slow harvest pace.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Tuesday, led by tech stocks and helped by easing Treasury yield rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 253 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 44 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 122 points.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures (CME) were 11¢ to 45¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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U.S. agricultural producer sentiment declined in September, according to the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. The overall index was 13 points lower at 135. The Index of Current Conditions was down 18 points at 105 and the Index of Future Expectations declined 9 points to 131.
“Producer sentiment this month reflects a growing divide between concerns about the near term and expectations for the longer term,” says Michael Langemeier, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “While higher costs and financial pressures are clearly shaping producers’ views of current conditions, strong expectations for farmland values point to a more positive outlook for some aspects of the agricultural economy.”
In September, 52% of survey respondents cited higher input costs as their top concern, marking a new record high. At the same time, the Long-Term Farmland Value Expectations Index increased 5 points to a record-high 168.
Since July 2025, producers have been asked whether they believe the U.S. is headed in the “right direction” or on the “wrong track.” In the latest survey, 48% of respondents said they believed the nation was on the right track, down from 51-54% in July and August and 14% less than the average of 62% for the first half of the year.
The survey was conducted among 400 farmers across the nation from Sept. 14-18.