Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, sold live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday while hedgers covered short positions, according to the weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday.
All of that took place as futures prices rose.
MANAGED MONEY SELLS CATTLE
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 56,029 contracts, down 6,674, or 10.6%, from 62,703 a week earlier. It was their smallest position since Nov. 15, 2022, when it was 49,704 contracts.
Meanwhile, hedgers, called commercial traders since they deal with futures from a cash/ownership perspective, had a total net short live cattle position of 98,536 contracts, down 4,626, or 4.48%, from 103,162 a week earlier. It was their smallest short position since Oct. 18, 2022, when it was 93,360 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by liquidating 8,004 long positions, covering 1,330 short positions and putting on 3,213 spread positions. This left them holding 24.3% of total long open interest, 4.6% of total short open interest and 16.3% of total spread open interest.
By contrast, commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by adding 3,542 long positions and covering 1,084 short positions, leaving them in control of 15.3% of total long open interest and 50.1% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said live cattle open interest Tuesday totaled 278,529 contracts, down 7,741, or 2.80%, from 286,270 a week earlier.
CME data also showed the most-active Dec contract rose in value during the week to settle Tuesday at $183.55 per cwt, compared with $178.62 a week earlier.
FUNDS TAKE SHORTER CORN POSITION
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short corn position of 147,141 contracts, up 47,619, or 47.8%, from 99,522 a week earlier. It was their largest net short position since Oct. 3 when it was 155,627 contracts.
Commercials, though, had a total net short corn position of 68,265 contracts, down 24,267, or 26.2%, from 92,532 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 10,322 long positions, adding 37,297 short positions and putting on 9,357 new spread positions. This left them with 11.6% of total long open interest, 22.1% of total short open interest and 14.2% of total spread open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.405 million contracts, up 5,213, or 0.37%, from 1.400 a week earlier.
The most-active Dec corn contract declined in value during the CFTC-reporting week to settle Tuesday at $4.78 ¾ a bushel, compared with $4.84 a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $183.72 per cwt to $187.04, compared with the previous week’s range of $184.00 to $189.69 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $290.70 per cwt to $293.67, compared with $289.71 to $296.04.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $2.19 per cwt at $302.34 while select was off $2.33 at $272.01. The choice/select spread widened to $30.33 from $30.19 with 89 loads of fabricated product and 62 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 $1.25 to $1.38 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.77 1/4 a bushel, up $0.07 1/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $237.62 per cwt, down $0.18. This compares with Friday’s Nov contract settlement of $240.60, down $2.02.