Cattle Futures - Cattle Complex Lose Ground

US - CME live cattle settled lower, and spot-April fell to a new contract low, on concern regarding this week's possible cash results based in part on lethargic wholesale beef demand. Fund selling and sell stops contributed to live cattle declines.

14 March 2008

1 minute read

North America

Beef contracts wilted at the start on profit-taking and cash anxiety. Also, heaviness in the equities and financial sectors trickled down to the live cattle pit because of fund involvement in cattle futures.

Spot-April's downturn, which was hastened by sell stops, produced an 89.10-cent fresh monthly low. And, nearby-June sank to its lowest level since Feb. 21, 2007 due to spreading out of the nearby-contract into the spot-month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's midday boxed beef wire for Thursday showed choice items fell another $2.35 per hundredweight and select cuts slid $0.54.

USDA's beef data convinced shorts to maintain their spot-month positions. However, longs worried that beef cutout's and future's fall on Thursday could force cattle owners to accept less money for supplies than expected.

Source: FXSTREET