Cattle plunges as stock market falls

Cattle futures are dropping as a falling stock market prompts worries that consumers will pull back from high-priced beef, reports Bloomberg.

Sales of steak typically increase when equity markets rise and with stocks selling off after a weak US jobs report, prices for cattle are tracking the downturn.

“There is no question the cattle market is sensitive to economic fears,” Hightower Report said in a Friday note. “Consumer beef demand is in question.”

Live cattle in Chicago has dropped as much as 4.0 per cent in the past three days, the biggest such decline since November. Retail beef prices are still the highest ever with the American herd the smallest in decades.