Federal Review of Cattle Markets to Last Months

A review of U.S. cattle markets and live cattle futures by the Government Accountability Office will last until at least May of 2017.  A spokesman for the GAO says the investigation is being done at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today reports the review was announced in May of this year to look at the reasons for a sharp drop in cattle futures in 2015.

The investigation includes examining the impact of high-frequency trading and other changes in the fed cattle market the past ten years. CME Group, which operates U.S. cattle futures markets, has said high-frequency trading accounts for 10 percent of the volume in CME's cattle markets and 50 percent of its overall average daily volume.

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