USDA Cattle on Feed Report Preview

OMAHA (DTN) -- Friday's USDA Aug. 1 Cattle on Feed report could come out to be neutral. But, then again, it could turn out to be quite bullish if July placements are on the lower end of analysts' expectations.

There's a good chance that placements might indeed come in lower, as more cattle have been marketed earlier this year, and the border remains closed to Mexican cattle imports. The tricky part about viewing this data is trying to predict what effect it will have on the market -- even if it is wildly bullish. With the recent uptick on the board and the market's fundamentals being so strong, it's challenging to say how much weight traders will give Friday's report if it does indeed show placements hovering around 87% of a year ago.

But potentially more importantly, we can use the data to better understand the influx and outflux of cattle at feedlots across the nation and potentially try to anticipate how these placements will affect fed cattle prices next spring and summer.

USDA will release its Aug. 1 Cattle on Feed at 2 p.m. CDT on Friday.

**

	USDA Actual	Average Estimate	Range
On Feed Aug. 1		98.1%	97.4-98.4%
Placed in July		91.1%	87.0-94.0%
Marketed in July		94.1%	94.0-94.7%
* Estimates compiled by Dow Jones.

ShayLe Stewart can be reached at ShayLe.Stewart@dtn.com

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