During the week ended Tuesday, managed money turned and began extending their collective net long live cattle futures position. At the same time, cattle owners lengthened their total net short position.
The data came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
MANAGED MONEY BUYS CATTLE
Tuesday, managed money, a proxy for large commodity index investment funds, held a collective net long live cattle position of 115,353 contracts, up 12,089, or 11.7%, from 103,264 a week earlier.
At that time, cattle owners, called commercial traders, had a total net short live cattle futures position of 128,571 contracts, up 3,547, or 2.84%, from 125,024 a week earlier.
The CFTC also said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 341,123 contracts, up 12,727, or 3.88%, from 328,396 a week earlier.
The CFTC said that Tuesday, managed money held 128,352 long cattle positions, or 37.6% of total open interest, a gain of 13,043. They also held 12,999 short positions, or 3.8% of total open interest, up 954, and they had 40,127 spread positions, or 11.8%, of the total, a gain of 1,861.
The CFTC also said commercials Tuesday held 49,421 long cattle positions, or 14.5% of total open interest, a decline of 1,968 from the week before, and they had 177,992 short positions, or 52.2%, of total open interest, a gain of 1,579.
CME data showed the most-active Jun contract Tuesday settled at $206.27 per cwt, up $6,47, or 3.25%, from $199.80 a week earlier.
FUNDS SELL CORN
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short corn position of 132,414 contracts, down 12,740, or 8.78%, from 145,154 a week earlier.
Meanwhile, commercials had a total net short corn position of 421,612 contracts, down 19,595, or 4.44%, from 441,207 a week earlier.
The CFTC said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.708 million contracts, down 16,007, or 0.93%, from 1.724 million a week earlier.
Managed money Tuesday held 289,843 long corn positions, or 17.0% of total open interest, a gain of 12,371 from a week earlier. They also held 157,429 short positions, or 9.2% of total open interest, a gain of 25,111, while also holding 210,411 spread positions, or 12.3% of total open interest, a decline of 17,679.
Commercials Tuesday held 424,352 long corn positions, or 24.8% of total open interest, a decline of 13,738 from a week earlier. They also held 845,964 short positions, or 49.5% of total open interest, a decline of 33,333.
Most-active Jul settled Tuesday at $4.83 ¼ a bushel, down from $4.89 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 $207.38 per cwt to $214.72, compared with the previous week’s range of $205.00 to $214.53 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $321.91 per cwt to $334.57, compared with $322.23 to $329.95.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $2.78 per cwt at $336.48 while select was up $3.76 at $320.11. The choice/select spread narrowed to $16.37 from $17.35 with 78 loads of fabricated product and 18 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed the weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef was $380.92 per cwt, and 50% beef was $117.08.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.18 to $1.30 a bushel over the May corn contract, which settled at $4.78 3/4, up $0.01 1/2.
No live cattle were tendered for delivery Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $289.88 per cwt, up $2.64. This compares with Friday’s May contract settlement of $290.52, up $1.45.