Large commodity investment firms, otherwise known as managed money, cut their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday as hedgers cut their net short position.
The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report on Friday.
Managed money’s new net long live cattle position amounted to 16,980 contracts, down 2,335, or 12.1%, from 19,315 the previous week, which was a near-term high.
Those hedgers who own the cattle, called commercial traders, cut their collective net short position for the second straight week ending with 104,101 contracts, down 3,291, or 3.06%, from 107,392. It was their lowest net short position since May 12 when it was 102,568 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new net long cattle position by liquidating 1,717 long positions, adding 618 short positions and putting on 3,147 new spread positions. This left them holding 16.6% of total long open interest, 10.4% of total short open interest and 13.4% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to their new short position by adding 1,780 long positions and covering 1,511 short positions, leaving them in charge of 14.1% of total long open interest and 52.4% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest rose during the CFTC reporting week to 272,659 contracts from 267,373, a gain of 5,286, or 1.98%.
CME Group data also showed the most-active Aug contract lost ground during the CFTC week to close at $96.77 from $97.80 a week before.
FUNDS TURN TO BUYING CORN
Ending a 10-week selling spree, managed money turned into buyers during the CFTC reporting week. They ended the week with a net short position of 277,603 contracts, down 24,270, or 8.04%, from 301,873 the previous Tuesday.
At the same time, commercial traders sold corn, ending Tuesday with a net long position of 21,846 contracts, down 7,931, or 26.6%, from 29,777 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money reached its new corn position by adding 11,598 long positions, covering 12,672 short positions and putting on 17,519 spread positions. This left them in charge of 8.6% of total long open interest, 26.1% of total short open interest and 12.5% of total spread open interest.
At the same time, commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by adding 2,891 long positions and 10,822 short positions, leaving them in control of 34.6% of total long open interest and 33.2% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest as of Tuesday was 1.584 million contracts, up 48,541, or 3.16%, from 1.536 million a week earlier.
The Sep corn contract settled Tuesday at $3.34 ¼ a bushel, compared with $3.33 a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cattle were sold in the Plains last week at $98 to $105 per cwt on a live basis, down $4 to $5 from the previous week. Dressed-basis trading was reported at $157 to $167 per cwt down $5.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.16 per cwt at $213.72, while select was off $0.17 at $203.91. The choice/select spread widened to $9.81 from $9.48 with 121 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
Ten steer contracts were tendered for delivery Friday against the Jun futures contract at zero while three heifer contracts were retendered at one. Ten steer contracts were demanded at zero and three heifer contracts were demanded at one.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Thursday was $128.01 per cwt, down $0.50. This compares with Friday’s Aug contract settlement of $132.55, down $0.42.