Cattle Futures: December Closes Higher as Most Contracts Post Losses, Friday
US - Friday closed with higher prices except for December contracts as some strong prices were reported through the day.December cattle closed just 10 higher on the session and down sharply from the early highs, write CME analysts.
The market traded sharply higher on the day into the mid-session and up to the highest level since February.
Tightening supply projections for November and December has helped to provide solid buying support from fund traders and speculators and open interest continues to inch higher. The market closed 105 points higher for the week.
A set-back in beef prices and talk of weak packer profit margins had some traders expecting steady or even slightly lower cash markets next week.
This may have helped spark the selling. However, cash already reached a record high this week and many traders see an uptrending cash market into the end of the year.
Choice boxed-beef cut-out values at mid-session came in at $200.19, down 88 cents from yesterday but up from $196.29 last week. Slaughter came in right on trade expectations at 111,000 head.
Beef production for the week totaled 494.1 million pounds which was down 3.6 per cent from last year.
TheCattleSite News Desk