As of last Tuesday, large commodity funds, called managed money, had increased their collective net long position in live cattle futures, while hedgers had boosted their own total net short position.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission revealed the data in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday, and given the gains made in cattle futures since then, more position gains could be reported in the next report, a market analyst said.
FUNDS BUY CATTLE FUTURES
The collective net long live cattle position of managed money on Tuesday was 83,230 contracts, up 23,744, or 39.9%, from 59,486 a week earlier. The move halted a three-week selloff.
Also on Tuesday, hedgers, often called commercial traders, since theoretically, they could make or take delivery of a futures contract, had a total net short position of 123,703 contracts, up 16,862, or 15.8%, from 106,841 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 24,018 long positions, 274 short positions and unwinding 1,493 spread positions. This left them with 32.2% of total long open interest, 6.9% of total short open interest and 15.9% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by adding 850 long positions and 17,712 short positions, leaving them in charge of 11.4% of total long open interest and 49.0% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said live cattle open interest Tuesday totaled 309,399 contracts, up 3,670, or 1.20%, from 305,729 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Jun live cattle futures contract rose in value during the CFTC-reporting week to settle Tuesday at $160.22 per cwt, compared with $158.90.
FUNDS ALSO BUY CORN
As of Tuesday, managed money had a net long Chicago corn position of 24,578 contracts, compared with a net short position of 13,437 a week earlier. It was the third week of buying corn for managed money.
At the same time, commercials had a total net short corn position of 271,230 contracts, up from 232,539 a week earlier, a gain of 38,691, or 16.6%. It also was their third straight week of position increases.
The CFTC said managed money got to where they were by 1dding 14,966 long positions, covering 23,049 short positions and unwinding 14,267 spread positions. This left them with 15.0% of total long open interest, 13.2% of total short open interest and 10.5% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by liquidating 17,012 long positions and adding 21,679 short positions, leaving them in control of 29.1% of total long open interest and 49.4% of total short open interest.
The CME said corn open interest was 1.338 million contracts, down from 1.346 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 $164.63 to $171.57 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $163.20 to $166.06. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $256.76 to $269.59 per cwt, versus $255.92 to $262.06.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $1.33 per cwt at $2890.98 while select was down $0.85 at $275.78. The choice/select spread widened to $15.20 from $13.02 with 56 loads of fabricated product and 27 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 $1.60 to $1.68 a bushel over the May corn contract, which settled at $6.43 1/2 a bushel, down $0.09 1/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $193.22 per cwt, down $0.07. This compares with Thursday’s Apr contract settlement of $200.62 per cwt, up $2.80.