Last week came and went and throughout the five trading days, traders longed for one clear thing -- greater fundamental support. While the market still sits at a historically high point, the day-to-day and weekly mechanics of the market influence how traders handle their daily business as well.

Although traders attempted to run the contracts higher early last week, their efforts fell flat as the market simply didn't receive enough immediate fundamental support to keep the prices elevated. The two main forms of support traders tracked were boxed beef prices and cash cattle prices -- both of which traded mostly lower. Throughout last week's trade, choice cuts averaged $375.06 (down $2.84 from the previous week) and select cuts averaged $357.80 (down $2.86 from the previous week). Unfortunately, the fed cash cattle market saw losses greater than that. During last week's trade, Southern live cattle were marked at $226 to mostly $228, which is $3 lower than the previous week's weighted average. Northern dressed cattle traded anywhere from $346 to $355, but mostly at $351, which is $8 lower than the previous week's weighted average. Making matters only worse, packers were able to get some cattle committed for delivery for the weeks of Dec. 1 and Dec. 8. Slowly but surely, they are buying up supplies to ensure they're not short bought in the weeks ahead and potentially run the risk of letting feedlot managers gain the upper hand in the market again.

So, moving forward, it's likely the futures complex will either maintain its steady trading range or could potentially trade lower as traders aren't seeing the level of fundamental support they'd hoped for. Unless something wildly bullish develops, the market is going to be hard-pressed to rise above its 100-day moving average, as that's a big threshold for the futures complex. Do also note that this upcoming Friday, the monthly Cattle on Feed report will be released at 2 p.m. CST. Watch this week for both DTN's report preview story, as well as analysis after the report comes out.

ShayLe Stewart can be reached at ShayLe.Stewart@dtn.com

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