CME: August Futures Inch Higher, Cash Cattle at $125, Wednesday
US - Following Monday's losses, live cattle futures benefited from late-session short-covering to close 22 1/2 to 72 1/2 cents higher.Cash cattle trade could be a few days off as packers have not yet begun bidding for cattle, but traders opted to trim the discount June live cattle hold to last week's cash trade, write market experts at ProFarmer.
August Cattle inched higher in quiet and choppy trade early Tuesday and traded sharply higher (up 150) on the day into the mid-session before closing near 50 higher on the session. The rally pushed the market up to the highest level since May 14th, say CME analysts.
Talk that the sell-off Monday was overdone helped to provide some light support early in the day and then short-covering and new buyers drove August higher into the mid-session. There was also talk of the discount of futures to the cash market helping to support.
Traders are waiting for any signals for the cash cattle trade this week. Cash traded $124.00-$125.00 last week but beef prices are lower and there is talk from packers that available supply of market-ready cattle is ample.
Boxed-beef cut-out values at mid-session came in at $205.53, down 64 cents from Monday and down from $208.54 last week at this time.
Slaughter came in right on trade expectations at 124,000 head.
TheMeatSite News Desk