Lean hog futures slip on demand concerns, technical pressure - CME
Live cattle futures ease as rally stalls on profit-taking
1 May 2026
1 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures eased on Thursday, breaking a five-day rally in the most-active contract as traders sought to take profits at month's end, Reuters reported, citing market analysts.
Feeder cattle futures ended higher on a range-bound trading day - with the August feeder cattle contract turning higher for the fifth time in the past six sessions.
A lack of fresh news capped prices, but recent strength in the cash market kept cattle futures somewhat underpinned, as did signs of strong consumer demand as the US grilling season draws near, analysts said.
Wholesale beef prices remained firm on Thursday morning: choice cuts turned $1.69 higher to $389.74 per hundredweight (cwt) and select cuts rose $3.61 to $389.86 per cwt, according to US Department of Agriculture data.
"After making these new contract highs, you're seeing a momentum-type market," said Brodrick Schmidt, a commodity broker at US Commodities LLC in West Des Moines, Iowa. "And there just wasn't a lot of juice to go to the upside today."
CME June live cattle settled down 1.25 cents to end at 254.00 cents per pound.
August feeders ended up 1 cent at 373.525 cents per pound, while May feeder cattle ended 1.15 cents higher at 372.65 cents per pound.
Beef packer margins remained deep in the red, with packers estimated to lose $187.30 per head of cattle slaughtered on Thursday, compared with $140.10 per head on Wednesday and $188.60 per head a week earlier.
CME lean hog futures struggled with technical resistance and concerns about consumer demand going into the grilling season.
Benchmark June lean hogs gave up most of the previous session's gains, ending Thursday 1.475 cents lower at 102.275 cents per pound in technical trading, analysts said.
