Large commodity index funds, collectively known as managed money, continued to dump long live cattle futures positions in the week ended Tuesday as cattle owners covered their total short positions, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
MANAGED MONEY SELLS CATTLE
Tuesday, managed money had a total net long live cattle position of 36,635 contracts, down 20,851, or 36.3%, from 57,486 a week earlier. It was their lowest long position since Nov. 2 when it was 34,030 contracts and was the second straight week of heavy liquidation.
At the same time, cattle owners, known as commercial traders, had a total net short position of 114,364 contracts, down from 132,278 a week earlier. It was their smallest short position since Oct. 5 when it was 114,320 contracts and their second straight week of short covering.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by liquidating 8,029 long positions, adding 12,822 short positions and unwinding 14,524 spread positions. This left them holding 23.7% of total long open interest, 12.6% of total short open interest and 11.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 1,621 long positions and covering 16,293 short positions, leaving them with 15.8% of total long open interest and 50.8% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 328,273 contracts, down 28,835, or 8.07%, from 357,108 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Jun contract declined during the latest CFTC week, settling Tuesday at $135.45 per cwt, compared with $137.05.
FUNDS BUY CORN
Managed money Tuesday had a total net long Chicago corn position of 355,824 contracts, up 18,603, or 5.52%, from 337,221 a week earlier.
Commercials Tuesday had a total net short corn position of 766,655 contracts, up 24,214, or 3.26%, from 742,441 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 3,542 long positions, covering 15,061 short positions and unwinding 23,366 spread positions. This left them with 24.9% of total long open interest, 1.0% of total short open interest and 6.1% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 26,204 long positions and 50,418 short positions, leaving them in charge of 22.7% of total long open interest and 74.2% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.488 million contracts, up 3,145, or 0.21%, from 1.485 million a week earlier.
Most-active May rose during the week to settle at $7.53 a bushel versus $7.25 ¾.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $140.00 to $143.00 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $140.92 to $145.00. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $219.75 to $224.78 per cwt, versus $221.90 to $225.95.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.77 per cwt at $254.71, while select was up $1.74 at $249.11. The choice/select spread narrowed to $5.60 from $6.57 with 69 loads of fabricated product and 28 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 $1.25 to $1.35 a bushel over the May futures and for southwest Kansas were steady at $0.15 over May, which settled at $7.62 1/2, up $0.06 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $152.56 per cwt down $0.50. This compares with Friday’s Mar contract settlement of $153.27 per cwt, up $1.62.