By Theopolis Waters
CHICAGO, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell almost two percent on Monday, their biggest daily percent loss since early October, partly pressured by bearish fundamentals, traders said.
Sell stops and active fund selling accelerated losses that dropped December and February by their maximum three-cents per pound daily price limit, they said.
December and February settled at 161.450 cents and 161.875 cents per lb., respectively.
Monday afternoon’s Choice wholesale beef price was down 56 cents per hundredweight (cwt.) from Friday to $251.98. Select fell $1.33 to $235.36, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
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Chicago live and feeder cattle futures fell back on Thursday ahead of Friday’s cattle on feed report. Hogs were mixed.
Beef packer margins for Monday were a negative $106.50 per head, compared with a negative $132 on Friday and a negative $106.15 a week earlier, according to Colorado-based analytics firm Hedgersedge.com.
Last week, slaughter cattle in Kansas and Nebraska sold at mostly $166 to $168 per cwt., down as much as $6 from the week before.
Packers are having a hard time getting grocers to buy beef at historically high levels, which could further bring down cash prices for this week, traders and analysts said.
Moderate temperatures in the central United States could enhance feedlot cattle performance, making more beef available to the retail sector in the near term, they said.
Still, bargain hunters are looking for futures to put in their seasonal bottom around mid December.
CME feeder cattle futures plunged their three-cents per lb. daily price limit on technical selling and live cattle market losses.
January and March ended at 231.875 cents and 228.225 cents, respectively.
SOFT HOG FUTURES
CME lean hogs extended losses into a sixth straight day as traders exited December futures before it expires on Dec. 12.
Weaker cash prices pressured February that will assume lead-month duties after December expires.
Monday afternoon’s average cash hog price in the western Midwest region was down $1.28 per cwt. from Friday to $84.05, according to USDA data.
Most packers have all the hogs they need into the middle of the week, traders and analysts said.
Investors are eying wholesale pork demand that is competitively priced to beef, they said.
February and April slid to 3-1/2-month bottoms after falling beneath Friday’s lows, which touched off sell stops.
December closed down 0.025 cent per lb. to 86.575 cents, February 0.500 cent lower at 85.125 cents and April at 86.350 cents, down 0.600 cent.
