Monday Market Sentiment: Cash market to fall after USDA report

A survey of cattle-industry leaders suggests the average price for cash cattle will decline, falling $0.97 to $121.56 per cwt this week.

The Monday Market Sentiment is a forecast of the upcoming weekly cash trade (5-Area weighted average price) prices reported by the USDA. This week’s prices increased for the second consecutive week after losing 3.78 three weeks ago. Last week the USDA announced that cash trade for the week ending April 20th was 122.53, a 41 cent improvement from the previous week.

Industry experts showed their accuracy this week with the Monday Market Sentiment just a penny above the week’s cash trade average. Cash trade is predicted to decline following the recent Cattle on Feed report.

Beef prices march higher and with high gas prices consumers may begin to seek alternative meat options. Steer cattle and calves on feed for slaughter in U.S. feedlots with over 1,000 head capacity was 1percent above the previous year and accounted for 62 percent of the total inventory.

Each week the Cattle Trader Center, on behalf of Vance Publishing, awards a $100 gift certificate from Cabela's to the industry leader whose forecast comes closest to the 5-Area cash trade number reported by the USDA. The most recent winner was Scott Keeling, Keeling Feeders.

Join our team of industry professionals to predict this week's cash trade. Click here for contest rules. Click here to register.

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