Large commodity index funds, better known as managed money, cut their collective net long live cattle position in the week ended Tuesday as cattle owners cut their total net short position.
The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
MANAGED MONEY CUTS CATTLE POSITION
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 106,615 contracts, down 7,200, or 6.33%, from 113,815 a week earlier. It was their second straight week of declines in their net long position.
At the same time, cattle owners, better known as commercial traders, cut their total net short cattle position to 131,532 contracts, down 7,055, or 5.09%, from 138,587 a week earlier. It was their third straight week of declines in their net short position.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by liquidating 7,116 long positions, adding 84 short positions and unwinding 1,295 spread positions. This left them in charge of 34.9% of total long open interest, 3.0% of total short open interest and 14.8% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 3,911 long positions and covering 10,966 short positions, leaving them holding 12.5% of total long open interest and 51.9% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said live cattle open interest Tuesday totaled 338,525 contracts, down 9,500, or 2.73%, from 348,025 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Oct live cattle contract declined in value during the week to settle Tuesday at $179.60 per cwt, compared with $183.55 a week earlier.
FUNDS BUY CORN
As of Tuesday, managed money’s collective net long Chicago corn position totaled 25,054 contracts, up 71,204 from a net short position of 46,150 a week earlier.
Commercial traders Tuesday had a total net short position of 207,038 contracts, up 35,171, or 20.5%, from 171,867 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 27,440 long positions, covering 43,764 short positions and unwinding 20,314 spread positions. This left them with 14.1% of total long open interest, 12.1% of total short positions and 12.4% of total spread positions.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 7,801 long positions and adding 27,370 short positions, leaving them with 30.0% of total long open interest and 46.2% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.285 million contracts, up 2,754, or 0.21%, from 1.283 million a week earlier.
The most-active Dec contract rose in value during the week, settling Tuesday at $5.65 ¼ a bushel, versus $5.34 ½ a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $179.20 per cwt to $190.48, compared with the previous week’s range of $178.00 to $188.83 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $284.31 per cwt to $292.45, compared with $280.35 to $289.99.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $0.86 per cwt at $302.00 while select was down $2.32 at $277.54. The choice/select spread widened to $24.46 from $23.10 with 86 loads of fabricated product and 16 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 $1.90 to $2.05 a bushel over the Sep corn contract, which settled at $5.21 a bushel, down $0.12 1/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $242.87 per cwt, up $0.58. This compares with Friday’s Aug contract settlement of $245.60 per cwt, up $0.95 and Sep’s $248.97, up $0.70.