Cattle futures were mostly higher early pulled along by last week’s strong cash and cutouts.
But will futures be able to continue to move higher and eventually take out the contract highs? Brad Kooima, Kooima Kooima Varilek, is optimistic about it as he says the cattle numbers are just that tight.
Cash cattle trade last week was strong with Southern deals at $186 up $2 from the previous week. In the North live sale prices ranged from $188 to $190.50 and dressed from $290-$302 with the volume at $300 which was up $5 from the previous week’s weighted average.
Choice boxed beef cutouts were on fire last week and ended up $3.30 on Friday’s close at $313.45 which is also lending some strength to the cattle market.
Lean hog futures try to bounce but the futures premium to cash caps rallies and that resulted in a lower weekly close last week in the June by $1.87. The Lean Hog Index was up $.16 coming into the session but has been slow to catch up with the futures.
Corn is following wheat and soybeans as grains put in some weather premium. Forecasts remain dry in the Black Sea and Southern Russia with APK lowering Ukraine production due to frost. Plus, there’s still too much rain in Southern Brazil.
However, can grains get above last week’s chart resistance?
