For those interested I hold a weekly livestock webinar on Tuesdays, and my next webinar will be Tuesday, June 03, 2025, at 3:15 pm. It is free for anyone who wants to sign up and the link for sign up is below. If you cannot attend live a recording will be sent to your email upon completion of the webinar.
August Feeder Cattle opened higher and pulled back to the low at 298.575. The breakdown took price to support at the 13-DMA now at 298.575. Support held and price turned higher, rallying to the high at 302.175. It consolidated the rest of the session and settled near the high at 301.75. The rally took price past resistance at 301.90 at the high but, it wasn’t sustained and settlement was below resistance. The early break followed the weakness in the Equity markets and the reversal came as the Equity markets stabilized. The breakdown and the rally however, wasn’t able to take out either the Friday low or the Friday high forming and inside candlestick. The Feeder Index jumped Two handles and futures are basically even with the index. Cash has rebounded off of its lows from early last week and could continue higher as producers continue to be aggressive buyers. We’ll see!… A breakdown from settlement could see price re-test support at 299.90. Support then comes in at the 13-DMA. A breakdown from the low could change sentiment and take prices lower. If price Takes out the Monday high, price could test resistance at 304.325. This would be a breakout from the inside candlestick and could change sentiment towards the upside.
The Feeder Cattle Index increased and is at 301.30 as of 05/30/2025.
August Live Cattle opened higher, turned lower and traded to the session low at 209.675. The break tested support at the rising 8-DMA now at 209.675. The breakdown could have been a response to the weakness in the Equity markets making traders wary of future demand for beef. But the Equity markets stabilized and price rallied the rest of the session to the high at 211.175. The rally took price past resistance at 210.975 and it stalled just below the 21-DMA now at 211.325, settling a tick above resistance at 211.00. Cash was quiet as participants figure out their needs for the week. The price action, even with the rally was consolidative in nature as it traded within the Friday trading range forming an inside candlestick. Cash was strong last week making new all-time highs on both live and dressed cattle. Live traded as high as 237.00 on the mandatory report and dressed reached 376.00. Slaughter levels were extremely low for last week’s holiday shortened week last week, and packers had little time to buy cattle for this week and had to pay up to acquire cattle. Cutouts set records last week (except for the pandemic) and this gives the packer some hope as the retailer buys for the upcoming holidays. Can the producer get prices up to 240.00 and 380.00 this week? How desperate are the packers? We’ll see!… If price trades below 210.975, it could re-test support at the 8-DMA. A failure from here could see a test of support at 208.80. If price can overcome resistance at the 21-DMA, it could approach resistance at 214.325. Resistance then comes in at 215.60.
Boxed beef cutouts were mixed as choice cutouts decreased 0.34 to 366.00 and select increased 1.46 to 358.11. The choice/ select spread narrowed and is at 7.89 and the load count was 122.
Monday’s estimated slaughter is 115,000, which is above last week’s 2,000 and below last year’s 117,863.
The USDA report LM_Ct131 states: So far for Monday, negotiated cash trade has been inactive on moderate demand in all feeding regions. The latest established market in the Texas Panhandle was last week from 221.00-223.00, mostly 223.00. The latest established market in Kansas was last week with live purchases at 222.00. The latest established market in Nebraska was last week with live purchases from 235.00-237.00, mostly 236.00, and dressed purchases from 365.00-370.00. The latest established market in the Western Cornbelt was last week with live purchases from 230.00-237.00 and dressed purchases at 371.00.
The USDA is indicating no cash trades for live cattle and on a dressed basis (so far).
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