December live cattle futures end up - CME
December lean hog futures fell
25 October 2024
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures turned lower on Thursday, amid signs of seasonal demand easing ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, Reuters reported, citing analysts.
Meanwhile, CME cattle firmed slightly as traders adjusted their positions ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's monthly Cattle on Feed report, due out on Friday.
After hovering near life of contract highs the previous day, hog futures fell as wholesale carcass prices ticked lower on Thursday morning, USDA data showed.
"The (pork) cutout has a tendency to go down into Thanksgiving," said Don Roose, president of US Commodities. "You're getting close enough where you're going to start promoting the turkeys," he said.
CME December lean hog futures fell 1.525 cents to finish at 78.650 cents per pound.
The previous day's uncertainty over whether consumer demand for beef would chill after an E. coli outbreak was linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounder burgers appeared to be "kind of a speed bump," according to Roose.
"Most of the time, a big company like that solves their issues pretty darn fast," he said.
Now traders are looking to the Cattle on Feed report, he said, which surveys the number of US cattle being fed for the slaughter market.
Analysts expect the USDA's report will show there were 0.3% fewer cattle in US feedlots on Oct. 1 than a year earlier, according to a Reuters poll.
December live cattle ended up 1.375 cents at 189.250 cents per pound, while November feeder cattle futures settled up 1.300 cents at 248.525 cents per pound.
Wholesale beef prices fell, with the choice boxed beef cutout dipping 24 cents to $321.17 per hundredweight, the USDA reported Thursday afternoon. Select boxed beef prices dropped $1.43 to $294.34 per cwt.
Beefpacker margins are in the black with significant kills planned after this week, according to analysts, and packers are requiring inventory.
Packers were estimated to be making $63.05 per head on Thursday, down from $77.75 per head on Wednesday, but up from $59.25 per head a week ago, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.
