Live cattle futures posted Thursday gains of 32 cents to $1.67 at the close. The Central Stockyards online Fed Cattle Exchange auction showed sales of 393 head on the 2,380 head at $189. Outside of that, Southern sale were tallied at $190, with the North at $190-192. Feeder cattle futures closed out the Thursday session with contracts up 67 cents to $1.70. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down $1.15 at $249.56 on October 23.

Ahead of the Friday afternoon Cattle on Feed report, analysts are expecting to see September placements tallied at 96% of last year’s total, with marketings at 102% of the 2023 total. October 1 on feed inventory is expected to be down 0.3%.

Export sales of beef totaled 16,712 MT in the week that ended on October 17, which was 18.94% larger than the previous week. South Korea was the buyer of 6,500 MT, with China buying 4,600 MT. Another 2,100 MT in sales were reported for 2025. Shipments totaled 16,050 MT in that week, which was a 3-week high. The top destination was South Korea at 4,400 MT, with 3,200 MT for Japan.

USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Thursday afternoon report. Choice boxes were down 24 cents to $321.17/cwt, with Select $1.43 lower @ $294.34. The Chc/Select spread widened to $26.83. USDA estimated Thursday’s federally inspected cattle slaughter at 124,000 head, taking the week to date total to 491,000 head. That is 3,000 head below the previous week and down 10,785 head from the same week last year.

Oct 24 Live Cattle  closed at $189.300, up $1.675,

Dec 24 Live Cattle  closed at $189.250, up $1.375,

Feb 25 Live Cattle  closed at $189.950, up $1.325,

Oct 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $249.400, up $0.825,

Nov 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $248.525, up $1.300,

Jan 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $245.525, up $1.700,