Large commodity investment funds, called managed money, again lengthened their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday.
The data comes from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report on Friday and shows that managed money on Tuesday were net long by 28,340 contracts, up 9,770, or 52.6%, from 18,570 the previous Tuesday. It was their largest net long position since July 30 when they were long by 29,646 contracts.
Commercial traders, those who own the cattle and primarily use futures as a hedging tool, extended their collective net short live cattle position through the week to 106,840 contracts, up 7,967, or 8.06%, from 98,873 the week before. It was their largest net short position since Aug. 27 when it was 110,325 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new net long cattle position by adding 6,153 long positions, covering 3,617 short positions and putting on 1,849 spread positions. This left their position representing 22.4% of total long open interest, 13.2% of total short open interest and 15.4% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to their new net short position by liquidating 4,326 long positions and adding 3,641 short positions, leaving them in control of 13.5% of total long open interest and 48.3% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest as of Tuesday was 307,233 contracts, up 6,881, or 2.29%, from 300,352 a week earlier.
CME data also revealed that the most-active Dec contract rose during the CFTC reporting week to settle Tuesday at $113.70 per cwt, up from $113.45, a gain of $0.25, or 0.22%.
FUNDS REVERSE; SELL CORN
During the same CFTC reporting week, managed money reversed course and sold corn futures to get shorter. Their new net short corn position as of Tuesday was 75,186 contracts, up 10,437, or 16.1%, from 64,749 the previous Tuesday.
However, commercial traders continued to cover short positions. Their new net short corn position as of Tuesday was 203,360 contracts, down 12,606, or 5.84%, from 215,966 the week before.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 2,497 long positions, adding 7,940 short positions and unwinding 1,586 spread positions. This left their position representing 9.5% of total long open interest, 14.2% of total short open interest and 13.2% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders, got to their new short corn position by adding 23,465 long positions and 10,859 short positions, leaving them holding 31.8% of total long open interest and 44.5% of total short open interest.
The CME Group’s data said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.609 million contracts, up from 1.573 million the week before, a gain of 36,830, or 2.34%.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cash cattle trading was reported last week at $174 to $175 per cwt on a dressed basis, steady to up $1 from the previous week. Live-basis trading occurred at mostly $109 to $110 per cwt, with some up to $111 late, up $1 to down $1.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $0.18 per cwt at $225.44, while select was up $0.75 at $199.84. The choice/select spread narrowed to $25.60 from $26.53 with 59 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
No cattle were tendered for delivery against the Oct live cattle futures contract Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Thursday was $144.76 per cwt, down $0.20 from the previous day. This compares with Friday’s Oct contract settlement of $145.70, up $0.47, and the Nov settlement of $145.37, up $1.20.