Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures firmed slightly on Thursday as stocks hit record highs on Wall Street for a second day, providing borrowed strength to the livestock markets, analysts said.
Gains in equities often support cattle futures as a strong economy is generally linked to solid U.S. demand for beef. The Fed lowered rates by 25 basis points, as expected.
“Demand, despite whatever concerns you might have about the consumer, seems to be quite good for beef,” a broker said.
CME December live cattle LCZ24 rose 0.425 cent to close at 185.825 cents per pound, while January feeder cattle futures FCF25 advanced 0.3 cent to 244.325 cents per pound. Both contracts remained within Wednesday’s trading ranges.
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Lean hog futures also stayed inside the previous day’s range but ended slightly weaker. CME December hog futures LHZ24 finished down 0.925 cent at 81.200 cents per pound.
The hog market has pulled back after soaring to contract highs last week on smaller-than-expected U.S. supplies, traders said. Recent rallies in belly prices due to strong demand also helped support hog futures recently.
But the wholesale pork carcass cutout value slid on Thursday, led by a steep $17.05 per cwt decline in pork bellies, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Ham values dropped by almost $5 per cwt.
The USDA reported weekly net cancellations of U.S. pork export sales at 14,700 metric tons for 2024, a marketing-year low. Weekly U.S. beef export sales were 8,000 metric tons, also a marketing-year low, according to USDA.
