A case of mad cow disease in California is the latest setback for exchange traded products designed to track livestock futures.
The first U.S. case of mad cow disease in six years has been reported in central California but was spotted before it could enter the human food chain and pose a threat, according to a Bloomberg article.
Exchange traded notes following livestock futures include iPath Dow Jones-UBS Livestock Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSEArca: COW), UBS ETRACS CMCI Livestock ETN (NYSEArca: UBC) and iPath Pure Beta Livestock ETN (NYSEArca: LSTK).
The ETNs are small in terms of assets under management. COW is the largest with a market cap of $56.2 million. Performance has been tough recently with the ETN posting a loss of 11% over the last three months. [Livestock ETFs]
Feeder cattle futures for August rebounded somewhat following Tuesday’s sharp decline.