Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk, your end-of-week roundup on what's moving markets and the broader economy.
In the livestock pits, cattle futures closed out July on a strong note, with live cattle contracts gaining as much as four dollars and sixty-seven cents on the week. Cash trade came in at two hundred thirty-two to two hundred thirty-three dollars, with select deals reaching two hundred thirty-five. Feeder cattle extended their recovery after Monday's sharp selloff.
Lean hogs also found their footing heading into the weekend, finishing anywhere from twenty-two cents to a dollar and fifty higher across the board. The national base hog price settled at one hundred dollars and forty-one cents Friday afternoon. Still, August hogs ended the week down roughly four dollars, keeping pressure on the nearby contract despite the late-session bounce.
Shifting to the macro picture, economist Steve Hanke is pushing back on the AI displacement narrative, arguing the technology is simply too expensive to be the job killer many fear. Hanke points to the enormous costs of water, power, and semiconductors required to run these systems, suggesting that for most companies, human labor will remain the cheaper and more practical option for the foreseeable future.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
