A deeper slump in wholesale-beef prices has renewed worries about demand in the U.S. live-cattle futures market, with the front-month contract flirting again with fresh two-year lows early Tuesday.
October cattle futures LCV5, -3.48% tumbled by the exchange-imposed daily limit of 3 cents, or 2.3%, to $1.29175 a pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, just shy of the two-year low notched last week. Live-cattle futures for December LCZ5, -2.50% were also 3 cents lower to $1.3415 a pound. Feeder-cattle futures for October FCV5, -1.66% were down 4.45 cents to $1.80825 a pound.
Analysts this past week have focused on signs of weaker-than-expected beef demand, seizing on a steady drop in prices grocery stores and restaurant buyers were willing to pay for meat during a season when they usually load up on steaks and roasts.
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