Also, far-month cattle contracts settled in negative trading territory asChicago Board of Trade corn slowly picked up ground as the morning wore on.

Beef futures spiked on the open driven by short covering and continuedsupportive wholesale beef demand. What's more, live cattle bulls were inspiredby word that a small number of cattle in Texas on Tuesday brought $1 perhundredweight more than what most animals sold for last week.

Nevertheless, futures slowly melted from session highs as buying dried up.Trepidation also set in amid growing concern about October's premium to lastweek's cash trade and some contracts priced above the 100.00-cent benchmarkprice.

And although funds piled on after December filled Monday's chart gap, sellingabated after the contract bounced off the 20-day moving average support floor.

Optimism remains regarding this week's cash potential, bolstered by tightshowlists. Also, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's midday boxed beef wirefor Wednesday showed choice cuts up another $0.63 per hundredweight and selectrose $0.69.

Traders and market observers anticipate further live cattle volatility onThursday as the end of the month and the last day of trading for the quarterapproaches.

Source: FXSTREET