It was a tight range day today in the cattle markets as the October and December contracts had only 50 and 60 cent ranges on light volume. The Oct contract, in my opinion, seems to be at its resistance level $144 while the next level of resistance for the Dec contract looks to be at its resistance level as well around $150. Production numbers came in higher than expected which is why we’re seeing higher price moves in the back month contracts like December and February. I’ve been hearing some cash trades in the Southern Plains area to be $135-$138 while some northern regions are being reported around $143-$147. The technical analysis of the December contract leads me to believe there is about $1-$3 higher to go, and if the production continues to decline for the 4th and into the 1st quarter, then the $153 (and possibly $154) price target is plausible. The USDA estimated slaughter came in at 124,000 head yesterday. This brings the total for the week so far to 372,000 head, which was down from 374k last week but up from 362k last year.
