Live cattle futures were up 25 cents to $1.02 lower on Friday, with June down $4.60 this week. Cash trade from this week has been $260 to $265 across the country, with late sale slipping to $258-260. Feeder cattle futures were down $4.42 to $6.67 at the close on Friday, $4-5 off the lows in most contracts. August was down $11.60 this week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down $1.72 to $370.72 on May 20. The CME will be closed on Monday for Memorial Day.
CFTC data showed managed money trimming just 773 contracts from their net long in live cattle futures and options as of Tuesday, taking it to 130,113 contracts. In feeder cattle futures and options, specs were adding back some length (mainly via fewer shorts), adding 1,194 contracts to their net long to 16,380 contracts.