Cattle Hit Hard by Bears on Thursday

Live cattle futures are trading sharply lower at midday on Thursday, with a number of contract months down $3 per cwt or more. They posted $1.30 to $2.82 losses on Wednesday. Open interest was down 3,922 contracts, suggesting additional long liquidation. Cash trade started to pick up, with a few light northern sales of $378-380 dressed and live action reported at $235-240 by USDA. Feeder cattle futures were mostly down 47 cents to $2.80 on Wednesday, with August settling in the plus column. They are trading more than $5 lower at midday today after the USTR exempted Brazilian beef from a new 25% tariff proposal. Open interest was down 1,499 contracts across the board. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down $1.25 on July 14 to $369.07.

Export Sales data from USDA showed beef sales for 2026 at 7,973 MT for the week ending on 7/9. That was the 4^th lowest total for the calendar year. Shipments were tallied at 10,354 MT, which was a calendar year low.