Live cattle futures were falling on Thursday, with contracts down $1.80 to $2.47 at the close. Cash trade kicked off on Thursday at $247-248 across the country, a $7-8 drop from last week. The Thursday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 1,356 head, with bids at $245-248. Feeder cattle futures fell back $4.90 to $5.90 on Thursday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $3.70 on July 8 to $374.45.
Export Sales data from USDA showed beef sales for 2026 at 13,977 MT for the week ending on 7/2. That was back up from last week after USDA issued a correction to 12,064 MT for the week of 6/25. Shipments were tallied at 14,492 MT, which was back down from last week.
