Live cattle futures are trading with 40 to 80 cent gains at Thursday’s midday. Cash trade has yet to get kicked off this week. A few Southern sales were reported at $239 on Wednesday, with bids of $239 this morning and Northern bids if $235. The Thursday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from Central Stockyards saw no sales on the 1,250 head offered, with bids at $232-238. Feeder cattle futures are up $1.50 to $2.40 so far on the Thursday session. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down 27 cents at $361.36 on September 16.
Weekly Export Sales data showed a total of 15,777 MT of beef sold in the week ending on 9/11, an improvement from last week. Shipments were tallied at 13,169 MT, which was a 6-week high.
