Chicago | Reuters – Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed lower on Tuesday in dull technical trade as market players await cash cattle trade to develop, brokers said.
CME August live cattle LCQ24 settled down 1.050 cents at 178.925 cents per pound, although the contract stayed above its 100- and 200-day moving averages. CME August feeder cattle FCQ24 ended down 1 cent at 257.650 cents per pound.
“Cattle (futures) are just chopping around,” said Sherman Newlin, an analyst with Risk Management Commodities.
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Firming wholesale beef prices kept a floor under the market, limiting declines. The choice boxed beef cutout price rose $0.79 per hundredweight (cwt) on Tuesday afternoon to $318.21, the highest since July 2023, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In the hog market, benchmark CME July lean hog futures LHN24 fell for a second day, but held above five-month lows set last week. July hogs LHN24 settled down 0.625 cent at 92.275 cents per pound, hovering above last week’s low of 91.800 cents.
Worries about declines in the Mexican peso continued to pressure the market, given the country’s role as the top buyer of U.S. pork. The Mexican currency MXN=weakened 1.3 per cent after the president said his proposed judiciary reform could be approved soon.
But wholesale pork prices firmed. The USDA priced the pork carcass cutout late Tuesday at $103.65 per cwt, up $3.23 from Monday, led by a $16 jump in pork bellies to $143.58 per cwt.
