Although last week was a shortened-holiday week for Thanksgiving, traders were actively supportive of the cattle complex despite the irregular trading schedule. But now that the market has the Thanksgiving holiday behind it, traders seem reluctant to advance the cattle contracts much more ahead of seeing what develops fundamentally this week.

Last week, the market made sizeable advancements in the futures complex. The spot February live cattle contract gained $3.07 and the spot January feeder cattle contract rallied $9.75 throughout the week. Largely, the market's late-week rally was attributed to the positive market comments Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins made last week in a Lonesome Lands interview where she stated that when the U.S./Mexico border reopens, it will be a slow and methodical process. The port in Arizona is expected to reopen first as it's the farthest from any detected case of New World screwworm (NWS), and the industry can rest assured a million head of cattle won't show up merely overnight. This insight came as a breath of fresh air to the marketplace as largely everyone has been kept in the dark about how the border will reopen when the time comes. Although Rollins didn't indicate when the border will reopen, she did address some of the lingering concerns about how the process will unfold.

But even with Rollin's positive remarks, traders still need to see fundamental support before they'll likely advance the contracts anymore. And from a solely fundamental standpoint, the market didn't accomplish much last week, which isn't unusual for a holiday week. Last week, Northern dressed cattle traded at mostly $330, which is $13.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average. Southern live cattle traded at mostly $220, which is $2.00 to $4.00 lower than the previous week's weighted average. Throughout last week's trade, choice cuts averaged $368.92 (down $2.35 from the previous week) and select cuts average $354.50 (down $0.69 from the previous week). New showlists appear to be mixed, higher in Kansas, about steady in Nebraska/Colorado, but lower in Texas.

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

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