Status Quo... As May winds down and the summer stretches ahead with record cattle-on-feed, the big CME live cattle futures discount to cash and oversold technical condition are not enticing bottom pickers (The Beef)

USDA estimates daily cattle slaughter at 124K head, compared to 125K last week and 121K last year. WTD slaughter at 499K head, compared to 499K last week and 481K last year (Thu)

MEATBOARD PM: Boxed Beef Choice: $263.97 (+1.04); Pork Carcass: $108.13 (+1.06); Chicken Breast: $362.10 (+0.10)

Boxed Beef PM: Choice: $263.97 (+1.04) Select: $244.43 (+0.37); Ch/Se Spread: 19.54 Total Loads: 134 compared to 102 on Wednesday (Choice improves on better movement)

CME LIVESTOCK: Live Cattle: $132.60 (+0.075); Feeder Cattle: $166.675 (-1.275) Hogs: $111.825 (+3.875); Milk: $24.37 (-0.08) (USDA reported moderate cash business in NE for Wednesday mostly near $140)

CME GRAINS: Corn: $7.65 (-7.25); Soybeans: $17.265 (+45.50); Wheat: $11.4325 (-5.00); Cotton: $140.61 (-4.55) (Soybeans rally hard)

STOCK UPDATE: Dow 30: 32,637.19 (+516.91); Nasdaq: 11,740.65 (+305.91); S&P 500: 4,057.84 (+79.11) (Stocks Sharply Higher On Solid Outlooks From Several Retailers)

ENERGY PRICES: Crude Oil: $114.09 (+3.76); Heating Oil: $3.968 (+0.1016); Natural Gas: $8.895 (-0.098) (Crude Oil Rallies as Global Supplies Tighten)

BEEF EXPORTS: Net sales of 20,000 MT for 2022 were down 14 percent from the previous week, but up 3 percent from the prior 4-week average (3rd week over 20 mt)

Ranking Of States With The Worst Pasture Conditions: Arizona has the worst pasture conditions in the United States followed by Texas, Colorado and Montana

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