CattleLink Market View

Live cattle: The live cattle complex merely chopped sideways throughout last week’s trade, wanting to conquer the market’s 100-day moving average but not having enough support to do so just yet. The fed cash cattle market closed mixed as Northern dressed cattle traded $2 to $4 higher at $355 to $358, but Southern live cattle traded $2 lower at $228.

Feeder cattle: The feeder cattle complex traded alongside its 100-day moving average until Friday, when the contracts finally broke above the market’s resistance as traders anticipated a bullish Cattle on Feed report. The report was indeed bullish, with placements down 11% from a year ago, which then helped the contracts continue to trade above the 100-day moving average on Monday.

Lean hogs: The lean hog complex traded mixed throughout last week’s trade, unable to break through the market’s resistance at $90. This upcoming week, the market is anxious to see Tuesday’s Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report.

Corn: Despite closing lower in three of the five sessions last week, the corn market showed impressive resilience through the middle of the week to close with moderate weekly gains, adding to those gains on Monday with March corn futures closing at $4.47 and just below medium-term resistance near $4.50.

Soybean Meal: Meal futures were moderately lower through the last week, but declining volume suggests the month-long selloff may be losing some steam. January futures posted further recovery on Monday to close at $298.60, back below $300 for the first time since late October and over $30 per ton lower than November’s high.