Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday to a level not seen for months.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday for data as of Tuesday, also said commercial traders, those who own, or will own, the cattle represented by the futures contract, boosted their total net short position to levels not seen for months.
FUNDS BUY CATTLE
As of Tuesday, managed money had a net long live cattle position totaling 67,966 contracts, up 7,523, or 12.4%, from 60,443 a week earlier. It also was their largest net long position since Feb. 22 when it was 80,955 contracts.
Commercial traders Tuesday had a total net short live cattle position of 121,010 contracts, up 3,605, or 3.07%, from 117,405 a week earlier. It was their largest position since April 26 when it was 126,255 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their Tuesday position by adding 5,965 long positions, covering 1,558 short positions and unwinding 1,172 spread positions. This left them holding 31.0% of total long open interest, 8.2% of total short open interest and 14.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by liquidating 1,104 long positions and adding 2,501 short positions, leaving them in control of 9.7% of total long open interest and 50.2% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 298,652 contracts, up 1,920, or 0.06%, from 296,732 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Dec contract moved unevenly sideways during the CFTC reporting week, closing Tuesday at $150.45 per cwt, compared with $150.87 a week earlier.
FUNDS ALSO BUY CORN
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long Chicago corn position of 227,675 contracts, up 17,444, or 8.30%, from 210,231 a week earlier. It was their largest position since June 21 when it was 241,691 contracts.
Commercials, meanwhile, had a total net short position of 470,424 contracts, up 1,764, or 0.38%, from 468,660 a week earlier. It was their largest short position since July 5 when it was 472,101 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 20,058 long positions, 2,614 short positions and 9,190 spread positions. This left them in control of 21.3% of total long open interest, 3.9% of total short positions and 8.9% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by liquidating 1,350 long positions and adding 434 short positions, leaving them with 23.6% of total long open interest and 59.5% of short open interest.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $141.00 to $145.00 per cwt, compared with last week’s range of $141.00 to $150.00 FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $221.34 to $227.23 per cwt, versus $223.30 to $228.00.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.06 per cwt at $252.40 while select was down $3.30 at $226.65. The choice/select spread widened to $25.75 from $22.34 with 117 loads of fabricated product and 22 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 $2.65 to $2.75 a bushel over the Dec futures and for southwest Kansas were steady at $1.10 over Dec, which settled at $6.77 1/4, down $0.00 1/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $176.82 per cwt down $1.69. This compares with Friday’s Sep contract settlement of $179.20, down $0.15.