Cattle futures higher to end the week

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle were both higher ahead of the USDA’s Cattle on Feed numbers.  While placements were down, that was largely expected. 

There was another light round of direct cash cattle business on Friday.  Dressed deals were marked at $282, that’s $2 above the week’s previous business and the prior week’s weighted averages.  There was light business on Wednesday and Thursday with dressed deals in the North marked at mostly $280, generally steady with the previous week’s weighted average basis in Nebraska. 

…