(Bloomberg) — Cattle futures are dropping as a falling stock market prompts worries that consumers will pull back from high-priced beef.
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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% 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.
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