Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live and feeder cattle turned sharply lower on Wednesday, on a spate of technical selling, pressure from a rally in the Chicago grain markets and growing concern that stress in the US economy could chill broader demand for pricier cuts of meat, Reuters reported, citing market analysts.
Meanwhile, CME lean hog futures were mostly higher on spread trading, though the CME August lean hog futures eased, analysts said.
"There were a lot of spreads being unwound, from folks who were long cattle and short hogs," said Don Roose, president of US Commodities.
On Wednesday, US consumer prices barely increased in July as the cost of gasoline declined for a second straight month, according to the monthly Consumer Price Index reported by the federal Labor Department.
Grocery store prices dipped 0.1% amid a 1.5% drop in the cost of pork, the largest decrease since November 2023, according to the report.
Ground beef prices fell 1.6%, the most since September 2020, and Walmart slashed ground beef prices last month. Ground beef prices, however, increased 9.0% over the year.
The report came just days after government data showed the US economy unexpectedly shed jobs in July and sharp downward revisions to job gains in the prior two months, analysts said.
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