Managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, advanced their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday.
The weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday also said hedgers increased their total net short position in the CFTC-reporting week.
MANAGED MONEY BUYS CATTLE
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 46,638 contracts, up 7,066, or 17.9%, from 39,572 a week earlier. It was their largest net long position since Nov. 7 when it was 56,354 contracts.
At the same time, hedgers, also known as commercial traders because they deal in the actual cattle represented by a futures contract, had a total net short position of 100,184 contracts, up 5,683, or 6.01%, from 94,501 a week earlier. It was their largest net short position since Nov. 7 when it was 101,401 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 5,438 long positions, covering 1,628 short positions and unwinding 1,596 spread positions. This left them in control of 22.8% of total long open interest, 6.5% of total short open interest and 13.9% of total spread open interest.
Meanwhile, commercials got to where they were Tuesday by adding 418 long positions and 6,101 short positions, leaving them holding 18.5% of total long open interest and 53.4% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said live cattle open interest Tuesday totaled 286,650 contracts, up 1,602, or 0.56%, from 285,048 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Apr contract declined in value, settling Tuesday at $185.10 per cwt, compared with $186.07 a week earlier.
FUNDS ADVANCE NET SHORT POSITION
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short Chicago corn position of 305,003 contracts, up 11,325, or 3.86%, from 293,678 a week earlier.
Meanwhile, commercials had a total net long corn position of 28,470 contracts, up 18,185, or 176.8%, from 10,285 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 8,476 long positions, 19,801 short positions and 23,374 spread positions. This left them with 11.0% of total long open interest, 29.9% of total short positions and 16.5% of total spread positions.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 1,491 long positions and covering 19,676 short positions, leaving them holding 28.5% of total long open interest and 26.7% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.693 million contracts, down from 1.629 million a week earlier.
The most-active May contract declined in value to settle Tuesday at $4.43 ¼ a bushel, down from $4.50 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 $175.69 per cwt to $183.00, compared with the previous week’s range of $175.15 to $182.00 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $280.06 per cwt to $290.07, compared with $275.52 to $286.37.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.90 per cwt at $296.20 while select was down $1.33 at $286.66. The choice/select spread widened to $9.54 from $7.31 with 85 loads of fabricated product and 23 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 $1.35 to $1.45 a bushel over the Mar corn contract, which settled at $4.16 1/2 a bushel, down $0.01 1/4.
Nine heifer and 14 steer contracts were tendered Friday for delivery against the Feb live cattle contract.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $244.58 per cwt, down $0.35. This compares with Friday’s Mar contract settlement of $251.02, up $3.92.