Cattle started the short week on the defense as both the live cattle and feeder cattle market posted heavy losses in the first two sessions of the week. Selling was tied to rumors of a New World Screw Worm infestation being found in the US. Of course, this rumor was just that, a rumor and unfounded, but by the time that news was out, it was too late, the meats had retreated.
But in true fashion and has been the case recently, cattle found buyers after breaking close to $2.00 in the live cattle market and close to $$4.75 in the feeder cattle. It continues to be the second verse of the same song; tight supplies, strong demand, and futures discount to cash, that continues to give cattle its strength.
Cattle opened the short week steady to higher with most months starting the session higher due to spill over support from Friday’s neutral COF report, which came in as expected in all categories. Early buying was short lived as heavy selling hit the cattle soon after the opening bell, pushing cattle to post heavy losses within the first half of the session. Cattle were able to recover half of the session losses going into the close. Early selling was tied to technical pressure while losses were trimmed late in the session from continued strong fundamental.
Wednesday’s session had cattle opening steady to higher but live cattle quickly reversed and slowly lost ground throughout the session while feeder cattle traded back and forth in the first half of the session but sold off the second half. Early support was due to support from Friday’s Cold Storage report. Meat in the freezer at the end of April was estimated at 1.948 billion pounds, 5% less than last year and 10% less than the 5-year average. Light support was also due to traders trying to restore some of the market losses from Tuesday’s fake screw worm story. By midsession technical selling returned to pull cattle lower. Losses were kept in check by futures discount to cash.
Thursday’s session was like a switch was flipped as cattle gapped higher on the opening bell and continued to expand gains throughout the session. Early support came from a stronger cash market as once again cash bids jumped higher to close out the week. Cash bids in the North were estimated at between $230 and $233, up $2 to $3 from the previous week. Technical buying was noted as bargain hunters continue to buy on every break. The battle in cattle continues with the fundamentals continuing to be strong while the technical look weak.
As of May 25, pasture and range conditions were estimated at 41% g/e, 26% fair, and 31% p/vp, up 1% from last year at this time.
For the week, June live cattle closed at $215.475 down 32.5 cents. August feeder cattle closed at $298.825 down $1.55.
For the month, June live cattle closed up $7.075. August feeder cattle closed up $3.80.
Cattle Weekly Comments May 30
Cattle Weekly Comments May 30
Cattle started the short week on the defense as both the live cattle and feeder cattle market posted heavy losses in the first two sessions of the week. Selling was tied to rumors of a New World Screw Worm infestation being found in the US. Of course, this rumor was just that, a rumor and unfounded, but by the time that news was out, it was too late, the meats had retreated.
But in true fashion and has been the case recently, cattle found buyers after breaking close to $2.00 in the live cattle market and close to $$4.75 in the feeder cattle. It continues to be the second verse of the same song; tight supplies, strong demand, and futures discount to cash, that continues to give cattle its strength.
Cattle opened the short week steady to higher with most months starting the session higher due to spill over support from Friday’s neutral COF report, which came in as expected in all categories. Early buying was short lived as heavy selling hit the cattle soon after the opening bell, pushing cattle to post heavy losses within the first half of the session. Cattle were able to recover half of the session losses going into the close. Early selling was tied to technical pressure while losses were trimmed late in the session from continued strong fundamental.
Wednesday’s session had cattle opening steady to higher but live cattle quickly reversed and slowly lost ground throughout the session while feeder cattle traded back and forth in the first half of the session but sold off the second half. Early support was due to support from Friday’s Cold Storage report. Meat in the freezer at the end of April was estimated at 1.948 billion pounds, 5% less than last year and 10% less than the 5-year average. Light support was also due to traders trying to restore some of the market losses from Tuesday’s fake screw worm story. By midsession technical selling returned to pull cattle lower. Losses were kept in check by futures discount to cash.
Thursday’s session was like a switch was flipped as cattle gapped higher on the opening bell and continued to expand gains throughout the session. Early support came from a stronger cash market as once again cash bids jumped higher to close out the week. Cash bids in the North were estimated at between $230 and $233, up $2 to $3 from the previous week. Technical buying was noted as bargain hunters continue to buy on every break. The battle in cattle continues with the fundamentals continuing to be strong while the technical look weak.
As of May 25, pasture and range conditions were estimated at 41% g/e, 26% fair, and 31% p/vp, up 1% from last year at this time.
For the week, June live cattle closed at $215.475 down 32.5 cents. August feeder cattle closed at $298.825 down $1.55.
For the month, June live cattle closed up $7.075. August feeder cattle closed up $3.80.