Managed money, or large commodity investment firms, pared their net long live cattle position during the week ended Tuesday, said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
Managed money’s new net long live cattle position totaled 102,549 contracts Tuesday, down 729, or 0.71%, from 103,278 the previous Tuesday. This was the first downturn in their total net long position in seven weeks.
At the same time, commercial traders, those who own the cattle and theoretically could make or take delivery of a futures contract, had a net short position Tuesday of 195,589 contracts, down 1,816, or 0.92%, from 197,405 the previous week.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at its new net long cattle position by adding 258 long positions, 987 short positions and 2,608 spread positions. This left them representing 30.8% of total long open interest, 3.6% of total short open interest and 10.1% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders reached their new net short position Tuesday by liquidating 319 long positions and covering 2,135 short positions, leaving them holding 6.4% of total long open interest and 58.2% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total open interest as of Tuesday was 377,083 contracts, up from 374,730 the previous Tuesday.
The CME Group also said the most-active Apr futures contract fell during the week ended Tuesday to $124.25 per cwt from its latest high close of $127.72 the previous Tuesday.
FUNDS ADVANCE CORN POSITION
As of Tuesday, managed money had been advancing its buying of CBOT corn futures for six straight weeks. The new net long corn position was 58,445 contracts, up 36,049, or 1.61%, from 22,396 the previous Tuesday.
During the week, commercial traders were advancing their own total net short corn position to 420,115 contracts from 362,429, a gain of 57,686, or 15.9%.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at its new corn position by adding 16,490 long positions, covering 19,559 short positions and unwinding 12,235 spread positions. This left them representing 17.3% of total long open interest, 13.7% of total short open interest and 8.9% of total spread open interest.
The CFTC also said that commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 3,424 long positions and adding 54,262 short positions, leaving them in control of 23.9% of total long open interest and 49.5% of total short open interest.
The CME Group reported total corn open interest Tuesday at 1.637 million, down 46,801, or 2.78%, from 1.684 million the previous week.
The CME Group also reported at the most-active May corn contract rose during the CFTC reporting week to close Tuesday at $3.79 ¼ a bushel, up from $3.73 ¾ the previous Tuesday. Along the way, it dipped to a low of $3.74 a bushel on Wednesday.
Since Tuesday, May corn continued to rise, setting a six-month high of $3.86 ½ a bushel on Friday before closing lower for the weekend.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle sold Wednesday on the Livestock Exchange Video Auction at $126 per cwt.
Cash trading last week was at $126 to $127 per cwt on a live basis, down $1. Dressed-basis trade was steady at $204 to $205.
The USDA’s choice cutout Friday was up $0.22 per cwt at $222.52, while select was down $0.96 at $214.64. The choice/select spread widened to $7.88 from $6.70 with just 52 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Thursday, was $146.03 per cwt, down $1.30. This compares with Friday’s Mar settlement of $143.67, down $1.37.