Live cattle futures were falling on Thursday, with contracts down $1.80 to $2.47 at the close. Open interest was down 4,992 contracts, mainly in the front month. Cash trade kicked off on Thursday at $247-248 across the country, a $7-8 drop from last week. The Thursday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 1,356 head, with bids at $245-248. Feeder cattle futures fell back $4.90 to $5.90 on Thursday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $3.70 on July 8 to $374.45.
Export Sales data from USDA showed beef sales for 2026 at 13,977 MT for the week ending on 7/2. That was back up from last week after USDA issued a correction to 12,064 MT for the week of 6/25. Shipments were tallied at 14,492 MT, which was back down from last week.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Thursday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $17.32. Choice boxes were down 39 cents at $380.81, with Select 40 cents higher to $363.49. USDA’s federally inspected cattle slaughter for Thursday was estimated at 112,000 head, taking the weekly total to 430,000 head. That is down 3,000 from the previous week and 35,480 head below the same week last year.
Aug 26 Live Cattle closed at $235.250, down $2.375,
Oct 26 Live Cattle closed at $231.600, down $1.950,
Dec 26 Live Cattle closed at $231.550, down $2.100,
Aug 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $356.150, down $5.900,
Sep 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $353.000, down $5.650,
Oct 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $349.325, down $5.300,
