Live cattle futures closed with contracts 27 cents to $2 higher at the close, as April was up $5.57 for the week. Cash trade saw some light trade at $246 in the South early this week with some northern action near $250 this morning. Feeder cattle futures posted gains of $1.62 to $2.32 at the Friday close, with April $1.25 higher on the week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $2.57 to $366.67 on April 9.
CFTC data from this afternoon showed managed money at a net long of 133,265 contracts in live cattle futures and options as of April 7, a 9,523 contract increase on the week. Specs in Feeder cattle futures and options added just 91 contracts to their net long to 20,202 contracts.
