Managed money, a moniker for large commodity index funds, boosted their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended last Tuesday, Nov. 22, as hedgers upped their total net short ante.
The data was from the Commitments of Traders report issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The report usually is released on Friday, but was delayed until Monday by the observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
FUNDS BUY MORE CATTLE
As of last Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 60,850 contracts, up 11,146, or 22.4%, from 49,704 a week earlier.
At the same time, commercial traders, the name for those who own, or will own, the cattle represented by a futures contract, had a total net short live cattle position of 104,948 contracts, up 3,325, or 3.27%, from 101,623 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new live cattle position by adding 8,526 long positions to their balance sheets, while covering 2,620 short positions and putting on 736 spread positions. This left them in control of 29.6% of total long open interest, 8.6% of total short open interest and 15.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 734 long positions to their balance sheets while also adding 4,059 short positions. This left them holding 12.4% of total long open interest and 48.6% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest last Tuesday was 290,325 contracts, up 6,020, or 2.12%, from 284,305 a week earlier.
CME data also said the most-active Feb contract rose during the CFTC reporting week to settle last Tuesday at $156.42 per cwt, compared with $153.05 a week earlier.
FUNDS CUT LONG CORN POSITION
Meanwhile, managed money cut their collective net long Chicago corn position to 156,735 contracts, down 9,112, or 5.49%, from 165,847 a week earlier.
And commercial traders Tuesday had a total net short Chicago corn position of 451,552 contracts, up 453, or 0.10%, from 451,099 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 12,046 long positions, covering 2,934 short positions and unwinding 17,902 spread positions. This left them with 15.9% of total long open interest, 4.4% of total short open interest and 9.3% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were last Tuesday by liquidating 39,834 long positions and covering 39,381 short positions, leaving them in charge of 25.3% of total long open interest and 58.4% of total short open interest.
The CME said total corn open interest was 1.363 million contracts, versus 1.422 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 $150.85 to $156.00 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $151.44 to $155.35. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $236.10 to $242.19 per cwt, versus $235.92 to $240.89.
The USDA choice cutout Friday day was down $0.73 per cwt at $251.83 while select was up $1.04 at $234.37. The choice/select spread narrowed to $17.46 from $19.23 with 48 loads of fabricated product and 13 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 $2.05 to $2.25 a bushel over the Dec futures and for southwest Kansas were steady at $1.00 over Dec, which settled at $6.68, up 4 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $173.63 per cwt down $0.66. This compares with Friday’s Jan contract settlement of $178.30, down $0.95.