Managed money, a moniker for large commodity index funds, trimmed their collective net long live cattle futures position for the second straight time in the week ended Tuesday, as hedgers expanded their collective net short position.
The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
FUNDS TRIM CATTLE
Managed money’s new net long live cattle position Tuesday stood at 36,332 contracts, down 1,059, or 2.83%, from 37,391 a week earlier.
At the same time, commercial traders, those hedgers who own the cattle at some point in their lives, extended their net short position to 109,361 contracts, up 3,644, or 3.45%, from 105,717 a week earlier. This takes them to their largest net short position since Oct. 20 when it was 109,500 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new net long live cattle position by liquidating 147 long positions, adding 912 short positions and putting on 2,963 new spread positions. This left their collective position representing 22.8% of total long open interest, 9.8% of total short open interest and 11.5% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders, got to their new net short live cattle position by liquidating 992 long positions and adding 2,652 short positions. This left them in charge of 15.1% of total long open interest and 54.1% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest as of Tuesday stood at 280,382 contracts, up 3,838, or 1.39%, from 276,544 a week earlier.
CME Group data also showed that the most-active Feb contract declined in value during the week ended Tuesday, settling at $110.77 per cwt, down from $113.17.
FUNDS TRIM CORN
Just as managed money trimmed their collective cattle position, they also trimmed their collective net long Chicago corn position, the data showed. As of Tuesday, their net long position stood at 247,585 contracts, down 3,514, or 1.40%, from 251,099 a week earlier and their second straight week of a decline.
Commercial traders nudged their net short position upward to 658,832 contracts on Tuesday, from 657,596 a week earlier, a gain of 1,236, or 0.19%.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new long corn position by adding 4,154 long positions, 7,658 short positions and unwinding 9,513 spread positions. This left them with 19.7% of total long open interest, 4.8% of total short open interest and 9.1% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 1,295 long positions and covering 59 short positions, leaving them with 24.3% of total long open interest and 63.9% of total short open interest.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle trading was reported in the Plains last week at $106 to $108 per cwt on a live basis, down $4 from the previous week. Dressed-basis trading was seen at $168 to $170 per cwt, down $4.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $0.71 per cwt at $213.88, while select was off $2.76 at $195.71. The choice/select spread widened to $18.17 from $16.12 with 91 loads of fabricated product and 40 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 unchanged at $1.05 to $1.09 a bushel over the Mar CBOT futures contract, which settled at $4.23 1/2 a bushel, up 0.02 1/4.
No delivery intentions for live cattle futures were posted Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Friday was $136.66 per cwt, down $0.45. This compares with Friday’s Jan contract settlement of $139.72 per cwt, up $2.12.