Live cattle futures closed the Friday session with contracts $3.90 to $4.50 lower. February was $1.57 lower last week. Cash trade last week centered in the $233 range across the South and $232-235 for the North. Feeder cattle gave back much of the strength from last week, as contracts were down $6.50 to $8.10 on Friday. January was still up $1.20 last week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up 73 cents to $370.15 on January 15.
CFTC data showed managed money increasing their net long in live cattle futures and options by 6,555 contracts to 101,316 contracts as of January 13. In feeder cattle futures & options, specs were trimming their net long by 530 contracts to 16,308 contracts.
