Live cattle futures were down $3.70 to $7.22 on the Friday session follow comments from President Trump on Thursday. Preliminary open interest confirmed some longs exiting, down 4,722 contracts. December was just 70 cents lower on the week. Cash trade settled in at $240-241 across the country. The Friday Fed Cattle exchange saw 240.50-242 sales on 166 of the 1,184 head offered, with $236-240 bids on other lots. Feeder cattle fell $7.72 in the nearby October contract, as the rest of the board was locked limit down. November fell $4.20 last week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up another $1.41 at $376.51 on October 16. Both live and feeder cattle will have expanded limits ($10.75 and $13.75, respectively) on Monday.
Late in Sunday President Trump was considering buying beef from Argentina, in reference to last week’s comments to lower beef prices.
