Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures traded on both sides of unchanged on Friday and finished the day mixed, underpinned by firm cash cattle prices but anchored by technical selling and seasonal pressure, analysts said.
Cattle futures normally fade seasonally in early December as packers need fewer animals for abbreviated holiday-week slaughter operations at the end of the month.
Feeder cattle futures notched modest gains on the day, their first in three sessions, supported by tight supplies and strong cash market prices.
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“Feeder cattle are not only hard to source right now but very costly when found. This has more feeders holding on to fat cattle, waiting for packers to come to their offers,” Karl Seltzer, partner with Consus Ag Consulting, said in an analyst note.
Fed cattle at U.S. Plains feedlot markets traded around $190 to $191 per cwt this week, steady to up $1 from the bulk of last week’s sales despite worsening beef packer margins.
Packer losses deepened to an estimated $97.45 per head on Friday, according to marketing advisory service HedgersEdge, down from an estimated loss of $27.00 a week ago.
CME February live cattle LCG25 settled 0.200 cent lower at 186.125 cents per pound after failing to breach technical resistance at its 20-day moving average and breaking through technical chart support at its 100-day average.
January feeder cattle FCF25 gained 0.900 cent to settle at 255.825 cents per pound.
The choice boxed beef cutout jumped $4.20 on Friday afternoon to $312.04 per cwt, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
CME lean hog futures ended firmer on higher pork prices and good export demand, with February futures LHG25 up 0.975 cent at 87.325 cents per pound.
The pork carcass cutout rose $2.52 to $91.16 per cwt on Friday, the USDA said.
