Live cattle futures were busy rallying to new highs, with contracts up $2.05 to $2.37 at the close. Preliminary open interest was up 2,945 contracts. Cash activity thus far has been limited so far this week. The Wednesday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from Central Stockyards showed no sales on the 2,556 head offered and $226 bids. Feeder cattle futures finished out the stronger Wednesday session with contracts $3.25 to $3.77 higher. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up another $1.03 to $326.83 on July 21.
Cattle on Feed data will be released on Friday, with June placements expected to be down 2% from a year ago and marketings seen 3.6% below June 2024. July 1 on feed inventory is estimated to be down 0.8% from last year.
