Live cattle futures were up 52 to 60 cents in the front two contracts, with the rest down 20 to 80 cents at the close. Trade talk has been slow to develop this week, some $310-312 in the beef reported in NE. A few $189-191 sales were reported in the south.  Friday’s Central Stockyards Fed Cattle Exchange auction saw sales of $193 in IA and $195 in CO, with both sales using their BidTheGrid™ method. Live bids were limited to $185-185.25 in TX, with asks of $189. Feeder cattle futures were down 85 cents to $1.45 on the day.  The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $1.68 on June 20 at $257.47. 

Friday’s Cattle on Feed report showed May placements totaling 2.046 million head, a 4.28% increase and above the range of estimates. May marketings were up 0.15% at 1.955 million head. That took the June 1 on feed figure for the month to 11.583 million head, a 0.06% decline from last year.

Export Sales data indicated a total of 14,872 MT of beef sold in the week of June 13, a 3-week high. Export Shipments totaled 16,752 MT, the largest in 4-weeks.

USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were reported lower in the Friday PM report. Choice boxes were down 48 cents to $322.39/cwt, with Select back $1.29 lower at $303.11. The Chc/Select spread widened to $19.28. USDA estimated this week’s FI slaughter through Saturday at 620,000 head. That is up 5,000 head from the previous week but 29,478 head below the same week last year. 

Jun 24 Live Cattle  closed at $187.600, up $0.525,

Aug 24 Live Cattle  closed at $183.150, up $0.600,

Oct 24 Live Cattle  closed at $183.625, down $0.200,

Aug 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $258.375, down $1.450,

Sep 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $259.900, down $1.275,

Oct 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $260.625, down $1.250,