Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, expanded their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday while hedgers enlarged their collective net short positions.
The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
FUNDS GO LONG CATTLE
Managed money’s collective net long live cattle position Tuesday stood at 59,817 contracts, up 9,574, or 19.1%, from 50,243 a week earlier and their largest net long position since June 29 when it was 61,794.
Those who own, or will own, the cattle at some point in their lives, known as commercial traders or producers, had a collective net short position Tuesday of 146,851 contracts, up 6,668, or 4.76%, from 140,183 a week earlier. It was their largest net short position since July 6 when it was 151,776 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new net long cattle position by adding 2,992 long positions, covering 6,582 short positions and unwinding 4,313 spread positions. This left them in charge of 27.0% of total long open interest, 7.1% of total short open interest and 10.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by adding 108 long positions and 6,776 short positions, leaving them holding 8.5% of total long open interest and 57.3% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday stood at 301,059 contracts, down 1,401, or 0.46%, from 302,460 a week earlier.
The CME Group also said the most-active Oct live cattle contract rose during the CFTC reporting week to settle Tuesday at $128.42 per cwt, compared with $124.70 a week earlier.
FUNDS BOOST LONG CORN POSITION
As of Tuesday, the collective net long Chicago corn position of managed money totaled 225,949 contracts, up 7,386, or 3.38%, from 218,563 a week earlier.
Commercials’ net short positions Tuesday totaled 513,813 contracts, down 13,651, or 2.59%, from 527,464 a week earlier. It was their smallest net short position since Oct. 20 when it was 466,242 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new net long corn position by liquidating 2,524 contracts, covering 9,910 short positions and unwinding 1,978 spread positions. This left them representing 17.5% of total long open interest, 2.1% of total short open interest and 11.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to their new short corn position by liquidating 5,713 long positions and covering 19,364 short positions, leaving them holding 26.8% of total long open interest and 61.9% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.467 million contracts, compared with 1.478 million a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle traded last week at $119 to $123 per cwt on a live basis, up $1 from the previous week. Dressed-basis trade was at $195 to $196, steady to down $1.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $3.24 per cwt at $278.46, while select was up $2.37 at $259.19. The choice/select spread widened to $19.27 from $18.40 with 86 loads of fabricated product and 31 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Friday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.86 to $1.91 a bushel over the Sep futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $0.70 over Sep, which settled at $5.47 a bushel, down $0.11.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $154.04 per cwt up $0.04. This compares with Friday’s Aug contract settlement of $158.17 per cwt, down $0.32.