Large commodity investment firms, called managed money, reversed four weeks of selling live cattle futures and increased their collective net long position slightly during the week ended Tuesday.
Commercial traders, or those who own the cattle and primarily use futures as a hedging tool, reduced their collective net short position in the same week.
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 came to 14,300 contracts, up 650, or 4.76%, from 13,650 a week earlier.
Commercial traders’ new net short cattle position Tuesday was 92,137 contracts, down 4,883, or 5.03%, from 97,020 a week earlier. It was their lowest net short position in more than a year.
Managed money’s new net long cattle position Tuesday came as they liquidated 1,849 long positions, covered 2,499 short positions and unwound 450 spread positions, the CFTC said. This left them in charge of 20.7% of total long open interest, 15.5% of total short open interest and 10.7% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by adding 4,459 long positions and covering 424 short positions, leaving them holding 16.1% of total long open interest and 49.6% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 274,766 contracts, down 2,029, or 0.73%, from 276,795 a week earlier.
CME Group data also said the most-active Dec futures contract rose during the CFTC reporting week to settle Tuesday at $107.82 per cwt from $104.05. The gain was highlighted by a gain of $4.45 on Thursday.
FUNDS LESS AGGRESSIVE; STILL BUYING CORN
Meanwhile, managed money continued to buy Chicago corn futures, although less aggressively than in weeks past. As of Tuesday, their collective net long position stood at 270,396 contracts, up 11,658, or 4.54%, from 258,738 a week earlier.
Commercials also were less aggressive about selling corn futures in the week ended Tuesday. Their net short position at that time stood at 577,698 contracts, up 11,998, or 2.12%, from 565,700.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 2,793 long positions, covering 8,865 short positions and unwinding 1,588 spread positions. This left them in charge of 18.8% of total long open interest, 2.9% of total short open interest and 10.5% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by adding 24,434 long positions and 36,432 short positions, leaving them representing 27.9% of total long open interest and 61.8% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday stood at 1.704 million contracts, compared with 1.682 million a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle trading was done last week at $106 to $107.25 per cwt on a live basis, up $0.75 to $3 from the previous week. Dressed-basis trading was done at $160 to $167 per cwt, steady to up $5.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $1.77 per cwt at $214.32, while select was down $0.48 at $198.49. The choice/select spread widened to $15.83 from $13.59 with 81 loads of fabricated product and 34 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 down $0.10 at $1.10 to $1.15 per bushel over the Dec CME futures contract, which settled at $4.06 3/4 a bushel, down $0.02 1/2.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $136.63 per cwt, down $1.28. This compares with Friday’s Nov contract settlement of $137.70 per cwt, up $0.12.