U.S. live cattle futures closed lower Friday after several consecutive days of new all-time record highs in wholesale choice grade beef prices. Some traders expect retail demand could soon begin to soften, as restaurants and supermarkets opt for cheaper proteins like pork and chicken. Anticipation of that potential demand downturn is weighing on cattle contracts for delivery in the summer months. Feeder cattle are also trading lower today. The USDA also released a mildly bearish cattle-on-feed report. Year-ago placements were the smallest since 2002, cattle-on-feed as of May 1 are down and marketings in April were up 2.2%