Spot cheese ended the week on a soft note – with blocks and barrels moving lower today, both down 15 cents compared to a week ago. But cheese futures managed to close higher on the day, likely recalibrating after sharp losses earlier this week. NDM remained similarly under pressure, with spot prices dropping to the lowest level since May 2024. It was a noisy week with tariff uncertainty, and the markets remain on edge to see what next week brings.
Today’s Highlights from Ever.Ag’s Know Your Markets
- CME cheese markets slipped again, with blocks down a half cent to $1.6225 per pound and barrels settling at $1.6300, 2.5 cents lower. Seven lots of blocks and one of barrels changed hands. That brough the full-week block total to 41 loads, the busiest trading week since April 2024. The CME NDM market also continued to decline, easing to $1.1550 per pound, a loss of $0.0125 and the lowest price since May. Seven loads traded. Spot butter continued to find some support at lower prices, ticking up a penny to close at $2.3100 per pound, with one lot exchanged.
- Futures had a fairly quiet end to what has been a volatile week. Q2 Class III futures finished Friday at $17.42 per hundredweight, up four cents compared to Thursday, but a 75-cent drop versus the week before.
- In February, US employers added 151,000 new jobs, up from +125,000 in January, but slightly below predictions. This report doesn’t reflect the impact of federal government job cuts, which happened too late to fully factor in. Unemployment rose slightly to 4.1% versus 4.0% the previous month, while average hourly earnings lifted 0.3% versus January and +4.0% on the year.
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