Cattle Futures: Futures End Mixed With October Leading Gains, Thursday
US - Live cattle futures finished lower except the October and June contracts which ended $1.15 higher at $134.50 and 20 cents higher respectively.Losses ranged from 2 1/2 to 40 cents lower for the day from December to April.
December cattle was trading down slightly on the day into the mid-session and well off of the early highs, write CME analysts.
Strong weekly sales numbers helped to support the market early but the gains could not hold with positioning ahead of the USDA Cold Storage report and the Cattle-on-Feed report helping to keep the trade choppy.
Traders believe placements might be up about 1.2 per cent from last year for September due to cheap corn but pasture and range conditions were also improving during this time frame which might have caused cattle to stay on pasture.
For the 3-week period when the government was shut-down, the weekly export sales totaled 55,500 tonnes as compared with the prior 4-week average of 15,100 tonnes.
Cumulative sales for the year reached 684,000 tonnes, down 12.2 per cent from last year's pace.
TheCattleSite News Desk