During the week ended Tuesday, managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, invested heavily in live cattle futures, extending their collective net long position.
At the same time, cash cattle traders, called commercial traders, extended their total net short position, as related in the data from the weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday.
FUNDS GO LONG CATTLE
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long position of 119,553 contracts, up 11,960, or 11.1%, from 107,593 a week earlier, for their largest net long position since Oct. 21 when it was 121,472 contracts.
At the same time, commercial traders had a total net short position of 133,718 contracts, up 8,859, or 1.10%, from 124,859 a week earlier, for their largest net short position since March 3 when it was 134,651 contracts.
At that time, managed money held 75,328 long positions, or 25.6% of total open interest, for a gain of 4,116. They also held 51,528 short positions, or 17.5% of total open interest, for a decline of 10,166 contracts, and they held 65,344 spread positions, or 22.2% of total open interest, for a gain of 2,788.
Meanwhile, commercials held 29,177 long live cattle positions, or 9.9% of total open interest, for a decline of 7,010, and they held 113,624 short positions, or 38.6% of total open interest, for a gain of 4,653.
Tuesday’s total live cattle open interest at the CME was 339,048 contracts, up 4,217, or 1.26%, from 334,831 a week earlier.
During the CFTC-reporting week, the Jun live cattle contract rose to settle at $243.27 per cwt, compared with $2324.60 a week earlier.
FUNDS TURN CORN SELLERS
After eight weeks of steady buying, managed money turned and began selling some of their net long corn futures position, ending Tuesday with a collective position of 257,952 contracts, down 21,678, or 7.75%, from 279,630 a week earlier.
At the same time, commercial traders cut their total net short position to 572,360 contracts, down 41,158, or 6.71%, from 613,518 a week earlier.
As of Tuesday, managed money held 344,768 long corn positions, or 18.9% of total open interest, for a decline of 18,609 contracts. They also held 86,816 short positions, or 4.8% of total open interest, for a gain of 3,069, and they held 302,379 spread positions, or 16.6% of total open interest, for a gain of 26,398.
Commercials Tuesday held 402,035 long corn positions, or 22.1% of total open interest, for a gain of 15,362, and they held 975,295 short positions, or 53.4% of total open interest, for a decline of 25,796.
Total open interest at the CME Tuesday was 1.827 million contracts, up 31,000, or 1.73%, from 1.796 million a week earlier.
The May corn contract Tuesday settled at $4.57 ¾ a bushel, compared with $4.62 ½ a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $234.90 per cwt to $243.63, compared with the previous week’s range of $234.93 to $239.00 per cwt. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $370.42 per cwt to $377.81, compared with $369.00 to $373.68.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was down $1.80 per cwt at $387.78 while select was off $1.51 at $386.19. The choice/select spread narrowed to $1.59 from $1.83 with 77 loads of fabricated product and 25 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed the weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef as $451.58 per cwt, and 50% beef was $163.72
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $0.90 to $1.05 a bushel over the May corn contract, which settled at $4.52 1/4, down $0.02.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $366.81 per cwt, down $0.01. This compares with Thursday’s Apr contract settlement of $372.90, up $2.15.