Managed money, or large commodity funds, continued to advance their net long live cattle position during the week ended Tuesday, while commercial traders extended their net short position.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday that managed money had a net long live cattle position of 105,008 contracts, up 253, or 0.24%, from 104,755 the previous week after rising for the 12th straight week.
Commercial traders, those who handle or own the cattle at some point in their lives, expanded their net short position for the 12th straight week to 156,785 contracts, up 3,391, or 2.21%, from 153,394 the previous week.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at its new net long position by liquidating 1,006 long positons and covering 1,259 short positions while unwinding 2,834 spreads. This left them representing 34.0% of all long open interest and 4.0% of total short open interest.
Commercials got to their new net short position by liquidating 1,375 long positions and adding 2,016 short positions, leaving them in control of 8.2% of total long open interest and 53.0% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest rose 749 contracts, or 0.21%, to 350,151 contracts from 349,402 the previous week.
The CME Group also said that during the CFTC’s reporting week, the most-active Apr live cattle futures contract fell to $114.17 per cwt from $118.40, leaving a gap on daily charts from $116.75 to $115.70 on Monday. It has since made a swing low of $112.75 on Wednesday and rallied to fill at least part of the gap.
FUNDS TRIM CORN POSITION
During the week ended Tuesday, managed money trimmed its net long corn position for the first time in five weeks as commercials took the opposite tack, also for the first time in five weeks.
Managed money’s new net long corn position was 4,828 contracts, down 12,932, or 72.8%, from 17,760 the previous week.
Meanwhile, commercials trimmed their net short corn position by 4,453 contracts, or 1.40%, to 314,612 from 319,065 the previous week.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at its new corn position by liquidating 19,419 long positions and covering 6,487 short positions, while unwinding 10,444 spreads. This left them representing 17.2% of total long open interest and 16.8% of total short open interest.
Commercials got to their new net short corn position by adding 10,586 long positions and 6,133 short positions.
The CME Group said total corn open interest during the week declined 45,610 contracts, or 0.34%, to 1.347 million from 1.352 million.
The CME Group also said the most-active corn contract set a 6 ½-month high at $3.71 a bushel on Tuesday, Jan. 24, before declining to set a nearby low of $3.55 ¾ a bushel on Monday before closing at $3.59 ¾ on Tuesday.
CASH CATTLE TRADE LOWER
Average fed cattle exchange auction prices Wednesday were $3.13 per cwt lower at $118.84, versus $121.97 last week.
Cash cattle then traded at $117 to $120, mostly $119, on a live basis, down $2 to $5. Dressed-basis trades were $3 to $4 lower at $190 per cwt versus $193 to $194 last week.
The USDA’s choice cutout Friday was down $1.61 per cwt at $191.40, while select was off $0.69 at $189.93. The choice/select spread narrowed to $1.47 from $2.39 with 83 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $128.19 per cwt, down $0.53. This compares with Friday’s Mar settlement of $123.57, down $0.17.