Varilek’s Cattle Call: The markets tanked

As we went home after the week of February 20, we felt like we had reached a point of hope in the cattle market. Many sales of fed cattle had us feeling like the clean-up had finally happened to help us start a spring rally. However, that fundamental knowledge went to the wayside early in the weekly session.

The markets tanked. That sentence summed up the weekly trade for most of the futures markets. The world-wide scare of coronavirus became the lead story across most commodity prices. Fear drove the direction for most of the trades last week. Liquidation of longs and bull spreads plagued the market. The stock market led the trends lower all week with cattle futures following the daily waves. We saw a few limit down moves throughout the days with rallies being short lived.

I will spare you my coronavirus knowledge because I am not the expert there. We need to focus on where our risk is, clearing our head, and planning. Many are asking where to try buy after the historical break. It is a falling knife so it will be hard to catch. We all wish we knew the spot, but it will be more like a flip of a quarter finding the low. I will leave this update short with charts and fundamental news not having much bearing over the markets currently. Let us all hope for an improvement soon.

Scott Varilek, Kooima Kooima Varilek Trading

The risk of loss when trading futures and options is substantial. Each investor must consider whether this is a suitable investment. Past performance is not indicative of future results.