CHICAGO, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures turned lower on Friday in position squaring ahead of the long Labor Day weekend.
CME October live cattle settled 1.35 cents lower at 212.95 cents per pound. CME October feeder cattle futures fell 0.95 cent to 320.15 cents per pound.
Wall Street dipped on Friday as a robust jobs report raised the odds that the U.S. Federal Reserve will increase its key interest rate at this month’s monetary policy meeting.
“Usually when you see equities pull back, it has a knock-on effect on cattle,” said Altin Kalo, economist at Steiner Consulting. “It’s the end of the week going into the long holiday weekend and trade is very thin.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said he will sign an order requiring country of origin labeling for imported beef, a move that industry groups have been pushing for.
Trump said last week he would look into whether there were too many regulations restricting ranchers from slaughtering their own cattle.
He also signed last week an order to temporarily increase imports of some lower-tariff beef in an effort to bring down consumer beef prices, which have hit record highs this year.
Meanwhile, high gas prices and decreasing consumer sentiment have lent credence to fears that consumers will pull back on buying pricey beef and trade down to more affordable proteins such as chicken.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture priced choice cuts of boxed beef at $375.30 per hundredweight, down $1.87 from the previous day, and select cuts rose $3.51 to $354.23 per hundredweight.
The USDA reported wholesale pork carcass values at $91.26 per hundredweight, up 0.14 cent from a day earlier.
The most actively traded October lean hog contract settled 1.15 cent lower at 82.30 cents per pound.
(Reporting by Heather Schlitz; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
