
Live cattle futures slipped lower on Friday, with contracts down $1 to $1.55. February was down $2.27 last week. Open interest was down 4,092 contracts on Friday. Cash trade was picked up at $232-233 across the country last week. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales, with bids of just $230-231. Feeder cattle futures were down $1.75 to $3.60 on Friday, as January was up $4.625. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 17 cents to $367.90 on January 8.
CFTC data pegged managed money adding 1,786 contracts to their net long in live cattle futures and options in the week that ended on 1/6, taking it to 94,761 contracts. Speculators in feeder cattle futures and options were adding 1,543 contracts to their net long as of Tuesday to 16,838 contracts.