The fiscal 2015 agricultural trade surplus is expected to be down as imports jump to a record high and exports decline, all because of a stronger US Dollar, even though the world’s economic growth is expected to accelerate. The USDA made the predictions in its Outlook for US Agricultural Trade report, which predicted that total … Read More

Net long and short positions of managed money and cattle producers narrowed again during the week ended Tuesday while the most-active Apr contract struggled. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report showed the net long position of managed money fell for the fourth straight week to 50,784 contracts from 56,603, a decline … Read More

The USDA’s monthly Cattle-on-Feed report is due for release today at 3:00 pm EST, and analyst estimates of the figures already are causing a stir.  The number of young cattle entering the feedlots is expected to be markedly lower than a year ago, but whether it’s a significant move is the question. The average of … Read More

Wholesale beef prices over the last three days have been higher, suggesting a seasonal rally has begun, but just how consumers will react to higher retail prices still is an unanswered question. The higher wholesale beef prices may provide enough push to sustain Wednesday’s cattle futures-market gains into early Thursday, but Wednesday’s late-day weakness may … Read More

Beef packer margins sagged even more last week as the wholesale market for beef and beef by-products continued to decline, the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker showed. The spreadsheet, put out by Sterling Marketing Inc., and published by AgWeb, calculated beef margins last week at a minus $99.02 a head, down from a minus $54.88 a … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large speculators, liquidated more long positions during the week ended Tuesday, Feb. 10, taking them to the lowest net long position in more than a year, although their activity was fairly slack. The Commodity Futures Trading commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders Report, which was issued Friday, showed that to attain … Read More

Cattle feeding margins improved last week, but the nation’s feedlots continue to lose money, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker, which does not take into account the individual hedging operations of feeders. Despite rising nearly $25 a head last week as fed cattle prices rose, and feed costs declined, margins remained more than $32 … Read More