After a one-week hiatus, managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, resumed buying live cattle futures during the week ended last Tuesday, Aug. 29, as cattle owners boosted their total net short position.
The data came from Friday’s weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
MANAGED MONEY BUYS CATTLE
As of last Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position amounting to 94,715 contracts, up 4,321, or 4.78%, from 90,394 a week earlier.
Cattle owners, often called commercial traders since they are in a position to either make or take delivery of a futures contract, had a total net short live cattle position last Tuesday of 127,318 contracts, up 5,933, or 4.89%, from 121,385 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new live cattle position by adding 4,323 long positions, two short positions and 1,293 spread positions. This left them holding 33.6% of total long open interest, 3.4% of total short open interest and 15.1% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were last Tuesday by adding 443 long positions and 6,376 short positions, leaving them in charge of 10.9% of total long open interest and 51.5% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest last Tuesday was 313,104 contracts, up 12,541, or 4.17%, from 300,563 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Oct live cattle contract rose during the CFTC-reporting week to settle last Tuesday at $181.47 per cwt, compared with $178.62 a week earlier.
FUNDS COVER CORN SHORTS
As of last Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short Chicago corn position of 91,131 contracts, down 30,481, or 25.1%, from 121,612 a week earlier.
At the same time, commercial traders had a total net short corn position of 110,825 contracts, up 17,070, or 18.2%, from 93,755 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 7,141 long positions, covering 23,340 short positions and unwinding 25,192 spread positions. This left them with 13.9% of total long open interest, 11.3% of total short open interest and 11.3% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were last Tuesday by liquidating 25,098 long positions and covering 8,028 short positions leaving them with 32.8% of total long open interest and 41.9% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest last Tuesday was 1.346 million contracts, up from 1.301 million a week ago.
CME data also showed that the most-active Dec contract rose in value during the week to settle at $4.86 ¾ a bushel versus $4.79 ½.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $179.00 per cwt to $185.93, compared with the previous week’s range of $178.75 to $189.46 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $280.56 per cwt to $290.72, compared with $283.80 to $293.58.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.70 per cwt at $314.49 while select was up $1.04 at $290.29. The choice/select spread narrowed to $24.20 from $24.54 with 74 loads of fabricated product and 15 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 $1.60 to $1.80 a bushel over the Sep corn contract, which settled at $4.64 3/4 a bushel, up $0.03 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $248.93 per cwt, down $0.02. This compares with Friday’s Sep contract settlement of $251.85 per cwt, down $1.42.