Cattle futures ran out of steam Tuesday with technical pressure and lower wholesale beef values.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of $1.32 lower. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $2.76 lower, except for 7¢ higher in spot Oct.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from inactive on very light demand to a standstill in all major cattle feeding regions through Monday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, FOB live prices were $190-$191/cwt. in the Texas Panhandle $190 in Kansas and mostly $190 in the North. Dressed delivered prices were $2 higher in Nebraska at $298 and $2-$4 higher in the western Corn Belt at $298-$300 in a light test.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $2.89 lower Tuesday afternoon at $320.61/cwt. Select was $2.22 lower at $289.96.
Toward the close and through Sep ’25 contracts, Kansas City Wheat futures were 12¢ to 13¢ higher Tuesday with the bearish crop rating in Monday’s Weekly Crop Progress report indicating, 38% was in Good (33%) or Excellent (5%) condition versus 47% at the same time last year. 23% was rated as Poor (16%) of Very Poor (7%) compared to 18% a year earlier.
Corn futures were fractionally higher to 3¢ higher. Soybean futures were 2¢ to 8¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed mixed Tuesday with support from tech stocks but pressure from the rising Treasury yield.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 154 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 9 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 145 points.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME were 10¢ to 12¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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Creighton University’s Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) sank below growth neutral in October for the 14th consecutive month, to the lowest level since the start of the covid pandemic in the spring of 2020.
Weak agriculture commodity prices, sinking agriculture equipment sales, elevated input costs and falling farmland prices drove the decline, according to Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.
The RMI is based on a monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy. October’s overall reading declined 2.3 points from the previous month to 35.2. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 that represents growth neutral.
Approximately, 61.5% of bankers indicated that the financial position of farmers in their service area had deteriorated over the past six months. The remaining 38.5% reported that farmers’ financial position was unchanged over the past six months.