U.S. livestock: Cattle ease after rally

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Published: January 9, 2019

,

CME March 2019 feeder cattle with 20-day moving average. (Barchart)

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) hog futures rose 2.1 per cent to their highest in more than three weeks on Wednesday.

Cattle futures were weaker, pressured by profit-taking after the front-month February live-cattle contract hit an all-time high on Tuesday.

“There was no fundamental line item to go with it yesterday so today was a pause or a back-and-fill session,” said Dennis Smith, a broker with Archer Financial Services. “People squared things up a bit, maybe took some profits.”

Hog contracts received support from optimism about U.S.-China trade talks.

Read Also

Photo: Fotokostic/Getty Images Plus

USDA cuts US corn stocks outlook after raising exports to record high

The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its U.S. corn supply forecast in a monthly supply-and-demand report on Friday and raised its outlook for U.S. exports of the grain this season to a record high following a strong pace of overseas shipments.

CME February hog futures settled up 1.175 cent at 63.775 cents/lb. (all figures US$). Prices peaked at 64.1 cents, their highest since Dec. 17.

U.S.-China trade talks ended on Wednesday with negotiators focused on Beijing’s pledge to buy “a substantial amount” of agricultural, energy and manufactured goods and services from the United States, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said.

CME February live cattle dropped 0.5 cent, to 124.8 cents/lb.

CME March feeder cattle was 0.55 cent lower at 144.9 cents/lb.

— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.

About the author

GFM Network News

GFM Network News

Glacier FarmMedia Feed

Glacier FarmMedia, a division of Glacier Media, is Canada's largest publisher of agricultural news in print and online.

explore

Stories from our other publications