Live cattle futures are down 7 to 15 cents so far at midday, as bulls take a break. Cash trade has been slow this week, with some northern dressed action at $385 to 392 and live trade at $245, with light $237 live trade in KS. The Thursday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 1,264 head, with bids of $235 in KS and $237 in CO. Feeder cattle futures are trading with losses of a tick to 75 cents across the front months on Thursday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up 60 cents to $345.58 on August 19.
USDA will release Cattle on Feed data on Friday afternoon, with analysts looking for July placements at 8.9% below last year and marketings down 5.9% from 2024. August 1 on feed inventory is estimated to be down 2%.
