Chicago cattle futures gained fresh highs on Monday while lean hog futures slumped.
Most active June live cattle contracts closed at 213.650 cents per pound, a gain of 2.550 cents. August live cattle settled at 209.075 cents, up 2.300 cents a pound.
Most active August feeder cattle futures close at 298.900 cents a pound, up 2.000 cents. September feeders also gained 2.000 cents to settle at 297.550 cents per pound.
Choice boxed beef ended the day at $343.57 per cwt, a gain of $0.67, the USDA reported. Select boxed beef closed at $328.07, up $2.72 per cwt.
“Futures traders have never been as unfriendly as they are at the moment to cattle feeders,” said analyst Christopher B. Swift. “The exceptionally wide positive basis in fats, and even to negative basis in feeders, forces the cattle feeder to buy the most expensive inventory and assuming risk of a severely discounted finished product.”
Most active June lean hogs slipped 0.350 cents to settle at 99.000 cents a pound. July lean hogs closed at 100.400 cents per pound, down 0.300 cents.
Pork carcass cutout value lost $1.72 to end the day at $96.66 per cwt, the USDA reported.
