Large commodity investment firms, called managed money in the trade, advanced their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday as hedgers lengthened their total net short position.
That conclusion came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday.
FUNDS KEEP BUYING CATTLE
Managed money’s collective net long live cattle position Tuesday stood at 101,430 contracts, up 11,999, or 13.4%, from 89,431 a week earlier. It was their third week of lengthening their net long position since a near-term bottom of 59,486 contracts on March 28.
Hedgers, known as commercial traders since they own, or will own, the cattle, had a total net short cattle position Tuesday of 139,688 contracts, up 4,928, or 3.66%, from 134,760 a week earlier. The gains also were the third straight week of gains since the near-term low of 106,841 on March 28.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 9.921 long positions, covering 2,078 short positions and unwinding 635 spread positions. This left them holding 35.6% of total long open interest, 6.1% of total short open interest and 15.3% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 1,998 long positions and adding 2,930 short positions, leaving them with 10.1% of total long open interest and 50.8% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 340,590 contracts, up 7,314, or 2.19%, from 333,276 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Jun contract rose during the CFTC week to settle at $165.20 per cwt, compared with $163.95 a week earlier.
FUNDS BUY MORE CORN
As with cattle, managed money bought more Chicago corn futures during the CFTC-reporting week. On Tuesday, they had a collective net long position of 57,699 contracts, up 28,814, or 99.8%, from 28,885 a week earlier.
Commercials had a total net short position Tuesday of 270,801 contracts, up 5,648, or 2.13%, from 265,153 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 13,396 long positions, covering 15,418 short positions and unwinding 17,829 spread positions. This left them in charge of 17.1% of total long open interest, 12.7% of total short open interest and 8.3% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 20,360 long positions and covering 14,712 short positions, leaving them with 27.4% of total long open interest and 47.9% of total short open interest.
Corn open interest totaled 1.318 million contracts, down from 1.336 million a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $174.86 per cwt to $184.47, compared with the previous week’s range of $172.20 to $179.46 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $269.25 per cwt to $283.88, compared with $261.33 to $273.20.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $0.39 per cwt at $306.60 while select was down $0.94 at $287.80. The choice/select spread widened to $18.80 from $18.25 with 88 loads of fabricated product and 12 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.63 to $1.75 a bushel over the May corn contract, which settled at $6.63 1/4 a bushel, down $0.00 1/2.
No live cattle futures deliveries were tendered Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $203.10 per cwt, down $0.81. This compares with Friday’s Apr contract settlement of $203.77 per cwt, down $1.25, and May’s $212.40, up $0.05.