“Cash is cash and futures is futures” was one of the trading truisms of one old-time lumber trader, and the axiom appears to be alive and well in the current cattle markets as well. The late Tom Martin had many trading rules, most of which were meant to curb his enthusiasm about trading and to … Read More

Cattle markets may be in for an uphill battle as slaughter-ready feedlot supplies mount and demand fades, and the current futures price structure may be overdone, analysts say. Currently, live cattle futures prices rise for each successive delivery month through Apr and then drop sharply, and traders are concentrating on moving positions into the Feb … Read More

Large funds and commercial traders are holding their live cattle net long and net short positions in narrow ranges as nearby contract prices traded in a wide range.  Neither has made a significant position change since the week ended Tuesday, Nov. 3. Managed money, a proxy for those large commodity funds, reduced their net long … Read More

The Thanksgiving Day holiday brought freezing temperatures, rain, ice and snow to much of the central US and into the Midwest, helping the winter wheat but bedeviling cattle. The National Weather Service shows the precipitation over the last 24 hours in the Southern Plains and Western Midwest. Two days ago, this storm was dumping a … Read More

As feedlot losses continue to mount with extreme per-head losses, Kansas feedlots aren’t trying very hard to get out from under their heavyweight cattle, a university survey revealed. A monthly sampling of Kansas feedlots by the Kansas State University extension service showed the average number of cattle sold to packers per feed yard for slaughter … Read More

The USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Monday was not bullish for beef and cattle markets.  The amount of on-ice beef was rising at a faster-than-normal pace while pork and poultry stocks declined at a faster-than-normal pace. Monthly red meat and poultry supplies in cold storage are following seasonal trends, but on a much more exaggerated … Read More

Live cattle futures traders generally held their net long or short positions nearly steady and near zero in the week ended Tuesday, undecided about where the market was headed. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in its weekly report Friday said managed money, a term for large funds, had a net long position of only 5,046 … Read More