Live cattle futures saw higher trade into the close, with contracts up 45 cents to 90 cents. Open interest hinted at new buying, up 2,790 contracts on Thursday. Cash trade has been quiet so far this week. The Thursday Fed Cattle Exchange auction showed no sales on the 1,394 head offered, with limited bids of $245-246 at $249 live. Feeder cattle futures closed with 30 to 65 cent losses across the front months on Thursday. OI was up 646 contracts. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up 90 cents to $376.92 on February 18.
Cattle on Feed data will be released this afternoon, with traders looking for January placements down 3.5% from last year and marketings dropping 12.9%. February on feed inventory is estimated down 1.6% vs. a year ago.
