Large commodity investment funds, called managed money, expanded their collective net long live cattle futures position to its largest in four months during the week ended Tuesday, extending their buying spree to five weeks.
The information came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
Managed money’s new net long cattle position Tuesday stood at 19,315 contracts, up 3,634, or 23.2%, from 15,681 a week earlier. It was their largest position since Feb. 18 when it was 30,312 contracts.
Uncharacteristically, commercial traders, those who own the cattle and generally approach the futures market from a hedging point of view, also bought live cattle futures during the CFTC reporting week. The new net short position of commercials as of Tuesday was 107,392 contracts, down 5,185, or 4.61%, from 112,577 the previous Tuesday.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at its latest net long cattle position by adding 3,408 long positions in the latest week, covered 226 short positions and put on 371 new spread positions. This left them in charge of 17.6% of total long open interest, 10.4% of total short open interest and 12.4% of spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 67,406 long positions and 1,221 short positions, leaving them responsible for 13.7% of total long open interest and 53.9% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest as of Tuesday was 267,373 contracts, down 930, or 0.35%, from 268,303 a week earlier.
CME Group data also showed the most-active Aug live cattle contract had a net gain for the week ended Tuesday but generally moved sideways in a narrow range. The contract settled Tuesday at $97.80 per cwt, compared with $96.20 a week earlier.
FUNDS KEEP SELLING CORN
Meanwhile, managed money continued to extend their collective net short position in Chicago corn during the week ended Tuesday, going to being short by 167,783 contracts from 286,207 a week earlier, an increase of 118,424, or 41.4%. This was their largest short position in more than a year.
Commercials, though, extended their collective net long Chicago corn position to 29,777 contracts, their largest in more than a year, up 13,726, or 85.5%, from 16,051 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 2,537 long positions, 18,203 short positions and 3,880 spread positions. This left their position representing 8.1% of total long open interest, 27.8% of total short open interest and 11.7% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to their new corn position by adding 349 long positions and covering 13,377 short positions, leaving them in charge of 35.5% of total long open interest and 33.5% of total short open interest.
Total open interest stood at 1.536 million contracts, up 1.12%, from 1.519 million.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle trading was reported last week at $102 to $108 per cwt on a live basis, down $4 to $13 from the previous week and at $160 to $172 on a dressed basis, down $15 to $16. Prices trended lower as the week progressed.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $4.92 per cwt at $230.64, while select was off $0.61 at $219.27. The choice/select spread narrowed to $11.37 from $15.68 with 111 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
No deliveries were tendered for delivery against the Aug live cattle contract Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Thursday was $129.58 per cwt, up $0.20. This compares with Friday’s Aug contract settlement of $131.10, down $1.07.