Among the many price-moving influences in live cattle futures, technical indicators play as much of a role in trade decisions as more fundamental factors. While acknowledging that many futures traders are adept at reading the charts and making trading decisions based solely on chart patterns, fundamental traders often find technical patterns difficult to identify. In … Read More
Managed money continues to hold a limited net long position in live cattle futures as these large funds trimmed their positions during the week ended Tuesday, Nov. 10. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments-of-Traders report Friday said managed money had a net long position Tuesday of 5,207 contracts, down 4,012, or 43.5%, from 9,219 … Read More
Maintaining Margins A Challenge For Packers
According to the Sterling Profit Tracker, packer margins more than doubled last week to $29.35 per head from $12.22 a week earlier, but amid the market turmoil over fed cattle price gyrations, maintaining these margins remains a challenge. Certain holiday-oriented beef cuts have been firm to higher, but now appear to be losing favor with … Read More
Consumers Demand Beef At Higher Prices
The third quarter of 2015 showed continued positive shifts in fresh beef demand that brought the retail fresh beef demand index up to 94 from 87 in 2014 and the highest third-quarter reading since 1991. The Retail All Fresh Beef Demand Index is a product of the Livestock Marketing Information Center and is calculated by … Read More
US Poultry Production Increase Seen Balancing Red Meat Decline
The USDA expects total meat production for 2015 and 2016 to be close to previous estimates as economists predict a decline in beef and pork output and an increase in poultry production. The USDA made the predictions Tuesday in its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, which lowered its forecast for 2015 red … Read More
Cash Cattle Prices Turning South
Cash cattle prices are turning south, and with futures seemingly in a freefall, fed cattle prices in the Plains are almost certainly doomed to drop further. Such a move would exacerbate feedlot losses and could bring a general flushing of overly fat cattle to slaughter. This may be part of the reason for a sharp, … Read More
Live Cattle Trade Gets Shorter As Futures Peak
The largest players in live cattle futures moved their net positions toward the short side of the market during the week ended Tuesday, even though the Dec contract was making a two-month cycle high. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report said managed money, or large speculative firms, and commercial traders, those … Read More