In the week ended Tuesday, large commodity investment funds, or managed money, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position as hedgers added to their total net short position.
That conclusion came from data supplied by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
FUNDS BOOST LONG CATTLE POSITION
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 16,270 contracts, up 6,564, or 67.6%, from 9,706 a week earlier, halting a five-week decline.
Hedgers, often known as commercial traders, had a total net short live cattle position Tuesday of 94,474 contracts, up 4,999, or 5.59%, from 89,475 contracts, also halting a five-week slide.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 4,501 long positions, covering 2,063 short positions and unwinding 670 spread positions. This left them in charge of 26.2% of total long open interest, 20.7% of total short open interest and 8.9% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 594 long positions and adding 4,405 short positions, leaving them with 15.9% of total long open interest and 48.0% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total open interest Tuesday was 294,693 contracts, down 4,462, or 1.49%, from 299,155 a week earlier.
CME Group data also showed that the most-active Aug contract rose in value during the CFTC reporting week to settle Tuesday at $134.12 per cwt, compared with $130.37 a week earlier.
FUNDS CUT LONG CORN POSITION
CFTC data also showed that managed money Tuesday had a smaller net long Chicago corn position than a week earlier at 239,592 contracts, down 7,108, or 2.88%, from 246,700, ending a three-week slide.
Commercial traders Tuesday had a total net short corn position of 618,363 contracts, down 20,076, or 3.14%, from 638,439 a week earlier, also ending a three-week decline.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 22,046 long positions, covering 14,938 short positions and putting on 3,856 spread positions. This left them in charge of 19.8% of total long open interest, 4.4% of total short open interest and 9.8% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by adding 18,713 long positions and covering 1,363 short positions, leaving them with 23.3% of total long open interest and 62.9% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.567 million contracts, up 3,000, or 0.19%, from 1.564 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 $135.00 to $143.15 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $138.47 to $147.00. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $212.70 to $218.64 per cwt, versus $216.01 to $219.32.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.22 per cwt at $271.32, while select was down $0.72 at $248.89. The choice/select spread widened to $22.43 from $21.49 with 87 loads of fabricated product and 23 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported that basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.75 to $1.85 a bushel over the Jul futures and for southwest Kansas were steady at even the Jul, which settled at $7.73 1/4 a bushel, up $0.00 1/4.
No live cattle delivery intentions were posted Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $161.87 per cwt up $2.07. This compares with Friday’s Aug contract settlement of $174.47, down $1.55.