Large commodity investment funds, called managed money by traders, boosted their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
The CFTC said managed money’s new net long live cattle futures position Tuesday stood at 38,273 contracts, up 9,933, or 35.0%, from 28,340 the previous week. It was the seventh straight bullish move in their position after bottoming at a net short 9,774 contracts on Sep. 10.
Conversely, commercial traders, those who own the cattle and primarily use futures as a hedging tool, extended their net short live cattle position during the week to end Tuesday being net short by 114,116 contracts, up 7,276, or 6.81%, from 106,840 the previous Tuesday. It was their largest net short position since Aug. 13 when it was short by 117,132 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at its latest net long position by adding 7,584 long positions, covering 2,349 short positions and putting on 822 new spread positions. This left their position representing 24.0% of total long open interest, 12.0% of total short open interest and 15.1% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to their new short position by liquidating 1,940 long positions and adding 5,336 short positions, leaving them in control of 12.4% of total long open interest and 48.2% of total short open interest.
CME Group data showed that total live cattle open interest Tuesday came to 319,180 contracts, up from 307,233 the week before, a gain of 11,947, or 3.89%.
CME Group statistics also showed that the most-active Dec futures contract rose during the CFTC reporting week to settle Tuesday at $116.82 per cwt from $113.70.
FUNDS GET SHORTER CORN
Meanwhile, managed money lost even more confidence in corn futures during the week ended Tuesday by taking on a larger net short position. Their new net short position Tuesday was 88,118 contracts, up 12,932, or 17.2%, from 75,186 the week before.
Commercial traders trimmed their net short corn position during the week to 202,240 contracts, from 203,360, a decline of 1,120, or 0.55%.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 15,365 long positions, covering 2,433 short positions and putting on 12,047 new spread positions. This left them in control of 8.7% of total long open interest, 14.2% of total short open interest and 14.1% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to their new position by liquidating 8,842 long positions and covering 9,962 short positions, leaving them holding 31.6% of total long open interest and 44.3% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.592 million contracts, down 16,959, or 1.05%, from 1.609 million the week before.
The CME Group also said the most-active Dec contract declined during the CFTC week to $3.86 ¼ a bushel from $3.88.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cash cattle trading took place last week at mostly $112 up to $114 per cwt on a live basis, up about $3 from last week. Dressed-basis trading was reported at $180 per cwt, up $5 to $6 from the previous week.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $1.02 per cwt at $233.20, while select was up $1.02 at $207.51. The choice/select spread held steady at $25.69 with 57 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Thursday was $145.98 per cwt, up $0.75 from the previous day. This compares with Friday’s Nov contract settlement of $149.12, up $1.52.