US livestock review: Higher corn prices push live cattle futures up

Live cattle futures settled higher Friday, yet many months were off their highs amid investor concerns about coming price trends.

The April contract settled 0.05 cent a pound, or 0.04%, higher on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange at $1.1165.

Apr feeder cattle were off 0.10 cent, or 0.08%, at $1.2917.

"Higher corn prices pushed live cattle futures higher [as the market compensates feedlots for the higher feed costs], but lower beef prices in spite of a reduced slaughter rate made some traders expect the market to begin trending lower as consumers resist higher prices," Cronin said.

Yet many traders were troubled by the lower wholesale beef prices reported by the USDA Friday after an upward trend all week. Many wondered if this week's lower slaughter rate and limp beef sales volues weren't finally catching up with the beef market in the form of weaker prices, said Troy Vetterkind, director of livestock analysis and trading at Vetterkind Cattle Brokerage.

"Investors were selling on every tiny rally," Vetterkind said.

Many traders also evened up their positions ahead of Friday's monthly USDA cattle-on-feed report, said Dax Wedemeyer, market analyst at U.S. Commodities.

The USDA at midday reported its composite wholesale carcass price for choice beef at $187.01 a hundred pounds, down $0.78 from Thursday. For select beef, the price was off $0.80 to $185.87. The volume of sales was light, totaling 59 loads of steaks and roasts and 28 of trimmings and coarse grinds.

(Source: http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/latest/US-LIVESTOCK-REVIEW-118260959.html)