Cattle Traders Look to Wednesday as Beef Approaches $400

Live cattle futures were in rally mode on Tuesday, closing higher by $3.60 to $5.95 as buyers re-entered the market, with new interest reported of 4,735 contracts. Cash trade last week was mostly at $255-258, though activity for this week had not yet materialized. Feeder cattle futures rose $5.32 to $6.87, and open interest increased by 283 contracts. The CME Feeder Cattle Index on June 12 rose to $364.00, up $1.33 from the prior reading. USDA will release Cattle on Feed data on Thursday, with May placements expected down about 5.5% year over year and marketings down roughly 10.6%. On-feed for June 1 is anticipated to be about 2.5% larger than a year ago. Wholesale boxed beef prices were higher, with Choice boxes near $399.58 and Select at $376.85, while the Chc/Sel spread stood at $22.73.