Live cattle futures are posted gains of $2.90 to 3.90 across most contracts on Friday, with August up $3.70 on the week. Cash trade was mostly steady this week, with light dressed trade at $384-386 in the North and live action at $243-245. Southern sales have been picked up at $235. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed sales on 40 of the 1,188 head offered, at $242 in CO using the BidTheGrid™ method. Feeder cattle futures were back to rally mode on Friday, with contracts up $5.45 to $6.32, as August was up $6.75 this week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 26 cents to $345.75 on August 14.
Commitment of Traders data showed spec funds trimming 752 contracts from their net long position as of Tuesday to 124,813 contracts. In feeder cattle, managed money cut a total of 3,542 contracts from their net long to 33,537 contracts.
