CHICAGO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures rallied to a three-month high on Friday after the US Department of Agriculture unexpectedly raised its 2026 US corn harvest outlook, sending prices for the feed grain down sharply.
Live cattle futures followed feeders higher and hit a two-month peak, with technical buying giving the market an additional lift.
The USDA said in a monthly crop report on Friday it expects US farmers to harvest their second-largest crop on record despite adverse summer weather that had most traders anticipating a cut to its production estimate.
Corn futures tumbled by as much as their daily 30-cent-per-bushel trading limit following the report, sending feeder cattle higher on the prospect of lower costs for their biggest input.
"The feeder cattle market is loving this," said Ross Baldwin, broker and market analyst at John Stewart and Associates. "You get out to the deferred months, and it's as bullish as you can imagine."