Last week, the live cattle complex showed some hope the market may have potentially found a bottom for the current move, but upon witnessing Monday's dynamic trade -- there's no more guessing to be done. The cattle complex has most definitely reignited its bullish energy as it soared higher through Monday's close.

But the real challenge lies ahead of the marketplace, as traders will soon be confronted with the market's previous high, scored just a little more than a week ago. They will be challenged to either respect that resistance price point and merely trade within the market's current bounds, or pressure that resistance if enough fundamental support is alive within the marketplace and capture new highs once again.

Personally, I think there's plenty of reasons to be bullish heading into the week ahead. With the market just days away from turning the calendar to May, which is historically the year's greatest beef-demand month, there's a case to be made that if beef demand either remains steady or happens to show some seasonal increase, fed cash cattle prices could trade higher. Nothing would delight traders more. Yes, packers were able to get cattle bought cheaper last week as Southern live cattle traded at $246 and Northern dressed cattle traded at $386, both of which were $2 lower from the previous week. But last week, the market's total movement in the negotiated fed cash cattle sector was only 68,158 head -- of which only 12,848 head were committed for the market's deferred delivery option. So while yes, packers were able to get some cattle bought cheaper, if demand picks up in the month ahead as is typically does, consumer demand could drive packers to be even more aggressive in the cash sector and potentially push prices higher.

Maybe I'm a tick bullish myself because we got 6 inches of wet, heavy snow this past week and we desperately need the moisture, but Monday's trade was the icing on the cake as both the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts closed higher. Let's hope the momentum carries through the rest of the week, and hopefully into the month ahead.

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

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