Fed cattle trade sank last week on a widespread weakness which seeped into equity and commodity markets in the wake of the disaster in Japan and concerns about the U.S. economy. Last week’s futures trade was sharply lower, with a lower trend and two limit-lower days of trade shaving more than $6 off of

Cash fed cattle prices surged higher again late last Wednesday with feedlots selling market-ready cattle at prices $5-6 higher than the prior week at $117-118 and $10-12 higher dressed basis at $188 to $190 with a few sales reported as high as $192 dressed. Sales volume on the midweek trade was good and at 93,000

Fed cattle prices pushed farther into record territory last week as sales in the southern Plains were reported at $112-113 live basis and at $180-182 dressed in the North and Corn Belt feeding regions. Those prices were $1-2 higher than the previous week’s trade. Trade was mostly complete by

Fed cattle trade last Thursday was being reported at the $110 to $111 level in the southern Plains. Meanwhile, light dressed trade in the north and Corn Belt regions came at $174 at midweek although dressed volume was still too light to call a trend at midday last Thursday. Prices were

Most of last week’s cash fed cattle business looked to be delayed until Friday, perhaps until after the release of the USDA Cattle on Feed report. Packers were offering $105 live basis in the south and $168 dressed in the north, but it didn’t appear those levels would be enough to spur any action in the market. Feedlots were

A second week of winter weather delayed trade until late last week as feedlot operators spent much of the week cleaning up and passing early bids from packers. As of midday last Thursday, only light trade to a regional packer in Nebraska had been reported at $169 dressed. Bids of $104 in the South were being passed and

Winter weather hampered the markets last week and delayed most fed cattle trade into the late-Thursday or Friday period. The cash market was expected to get a small boost from the storm that plagued much of the U.S. last week but it also cut into retail sales, tempering enthusiasm among

Fed cattle trade last week wrapped up early with the south trading cattle at $104-105 live basis and in the northern Plains and Corn Belt, live trade came at $103-104 while dressed cattle traded between $166 and $168. There was some softening in the beef markets and futures contracts traded lower for

Midweek fed cattle trade last week came in lower than the prior weeks action as price fatigue appears to have set in. Boxed beef cutout values have started to show signs of topping out and nearterm export needs appear to have been fulfilled, leading to last weeks price break.

The fed cattle markets last week looked likely to benefit directly from the global nature of beef trade. Heavy rains have caused severe flooding in portions of Australia. The flooding shut down the port of Brisbane, Australia, which is responsible for shipping much of the beef from the states of Queensland and New South Wales to