Fake screwworm alert triggers cattle market selloff Missouri probes hoax press release that roiled futures9 June 2025 9 June 2025 2 minute read 2 minute read By: By: Global Ag Media North AmericaMissouri authorities are investigating a fake press release about the damaging livestock pest New World screwworm that sparked a selloff in US cattle futures markets last week, Reuters reported, citing the state's agriculture department on Friday. On May 27, a false press release was sent to a northwest Missouri radio station about screwworm, the Missouri Department of Agriculture said. A report on the radio station's website pressured Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures before being taken offline, livestock traders said. Live cattle futures fell nearly 2% before paring losses, as daily trading volumes in the market spiked 77% from a week earlier. US cattle producers' group R-CALF USA last week asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures markets, to investigate.