Chicago cattle futures eked out gains on Monday while hog contracts slipped back.
Most-active April live cattle futures closed at 238.200 cents a pound, up 0.950 cents. June contracts gained 0.475 cents to settle at 234.325 cents.
Most-traded March feeder cattle contracts closed at 367.450 cents per pound, up 0.025 cents. April feeders settled at 363.200 cents per pound, a gain of 0.400 cents.
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Choice boxed beef fell by $1.57 per cwt to $367.76 per cwt. Select beef gained $0.82 to settle at $365.35 per cwt.
“Cash cattle and beef market fundamentals and technicals remain solid, but the U.S. stock market has wobbled, and other commodity markets have become more unstable,” wrote analyst Jim Wyckoff, naming gold, silver and copper.
The size of daily price moves in gold and silver has spooked commodity market traders, Wyckoff said. For cattle futures to trend toward record high prices and for lean hog futures to continue their upward track, “it’s likely the U.S. stock indexes will need to at least hold near their present levels, while the metals markets will need to squash the recent extreme daily price volatility.”
Most-active April lean hog futures lost 1.225 cents to settle at 96.725 cents a pound. June contracts lost 0.425 cents and closed at 109.800 cents per pound.
The USDA reported pork carcass cutout value at $95.83 per cwt on Monday afternoon, up $2.06.
