As of Tuesday, managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, had the largest net long live cattle futures position in more than a year, while hedgers had their largest net short position in the same period.
The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
FUNDS GET LONG CATTLE
Tuesday, managed money had a total net long live cattle futures position 87,407 contracts, up 20,992, or 31.6%, from 66,415 a week earlier.
Commercial traders, those who own, or will own, the cattle at some point and trade mostly as hedgers, had a cumulative net short position of 164,905 contracts on Tuesday, up 17,102, or 11.6%, from 147,803 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 17,253 long positions, covering 3,739 short positions and putting on 3,542 new spread positions. This left them in charge of 33.0% of total long open interest, 4.6% of total short open interest and 8.9% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 936 long positions and adding 16,166 short positions. This left them with 7.1% of total long open interest and 60.6% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 308,107 contracts, up 21,963, or 7.68%, from 286,144 a week earlier.
CME Group data also showed that the most-active Oct live cattle contract rose in value during the CFTC week, ending Tuesday at $131.70, compared with $128.12. The contract has since declined.
FUNDS SELL CORN
As of Tuesday, managed money’s cumulative net long Chicago corn position was 257,883 contracts, down 11,199, or 4.16%, from 269,082 a week earlier.
Commercials’s net short corn position Tuesday totaled 503,017 contracts, down 17,297, or 3.32%, from 520,314 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 7,621 long positions, adding 3,578 short positions and putting on 16,760 new spread positions. This left them with 19.9% of total long open interest, 2.0% of total short open interest and 9.9% of total spread open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.444 million contracts, up 8,423, or 0.59%, from 1.435 million a week earlier.
The most-active Dec contract declined to $5.45 ¼ a bushel from $5.63 ½.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $121.51 to $127.50 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s weekly range of $124.26 to $125.75. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $190.85 to $197.23 per cwt, versus $197.57 to $203.18.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $1.93 per cwt at $345.34, while select was down $4.07 at $315.52. The choice/select spread widened to $29.82 from $27.68 with 46 loads of fabricated product and 22 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Friday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.60 to $2.00 a bushel over the Sep futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $0.40 over Sep, which settled at $5.58 a bushel, up $0.05 1/4.
No new delivery intentions were posted Friday against the Aug live cattle contract. Eight heifer and six steer contracts were retendered at two, and five heifer and two steer contracts were reclaimed at two.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $159.39 per cwt up $0.60. This compares with Friday’s Sep contract settlement of $164.65 per cwt, up $0.20.