The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.3% in August on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.5% in July, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 5.3% before seasonal adjustment.  The indices for gasoline, household furnishings and operations, food and shelter … Read More

Managed money, or large commodity index funds, actively sold live cattle futures in the week ended last Tuesday as hedgers covered short positions, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS SELL LIVE CATTLE   As of last Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live … Read More

The USDA’s latest forecast for 2021 total red meat and poultry production was lowered from last month in the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report Friday. The beef production estimate was reduced from the August report as lower expected steer and heifer slaughter and lighter carcass weights more than offset higher cow slaughter … Read More

Farm debt at commercial banks continued to ease in the second quarter, said Economists Nathan Kauffman and Ty Kreitman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank in a release. Agricultural loan balances decreased by 5% from the previous year because of a relatively large decline in production loans, the economists said.  Although farm lending increased … Read More

Economic growth downshifted slightly to a moderate pace in early July through August, said the Federal Reserve in its latest “Beige Book,” Wednesday. The stronger sectors of the economy included manufacturing, transportation, nonfinancial services and residential real estate.  But the overall deceleration in economic activity largely was attributable to a pullback in dining out, travel … Read More

Supplemental feeding can be beneficial for stockers grazing summer pastures – sometimes. Research indicated supplementation can be used to replace nitrogen fertilizers, but the best program depended on the economic relationship between the value of the calf’s gain and the cost of the inputs like fertilizer and feed supplements, said Paul Beck, associate professor of … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, cut their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended last Tuesday as hedgers trimmed their total net short position. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS CUT LIVE CATTLE POSITION   The … Read More