Large commodity index firms, known as managed money, trimmed their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday as hedgers covered some of their net short positions.
The information came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
FUNDS SELL CATTLE FUTURES
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 124,946 contracts, down 1,349, or 1.07%, from 126,295 a week earlier.
Hedgers, better known as commercial traders because they deal mostly in the cash market, Tuesday had a total net short live cattle position of 131,094 contracts, down 1,763, or 1.33%, from 132,857 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money Tuesday h3ld 158,173 long positions, or 39.3% of total open interest, a decline of 786. They also had 33,227 short positions, or 8.3% of total open interest, for a gain of 563, and they held 45,479 spread positions, or 11.3% of total open interest, a decline of 1,516.
Commercials Tuesday held 58,741 long positions, or 14.6% of total open interest, a decline of 625 contracts. They also held 1898,835 short positions, or 47.2% of the total, for a decline of 2,388.
Live cattle open interest at the CME Tuesday was 402,195 contracts, down 1,496, or 0.37%, from 403,691 a week earlier.
During the CFTC-reporting week, the most-active Oct contract rose to settle at $226.45 per cwt, compared with $221.12 a week earlier.
FUNDS ADD TO NET SHORT CORN POSITION
Managed money Tuesday had a collective net short corn position of 150,944 contracts, up 181, or 0.12%, from 150,763 a week earlier.
Commercials, meanwhile, had a total net short corn position of 53,366 contracts, up 4,350, or 8.87%, from 49,016 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money Tuesday held 201,664 long positions, or 12.8% of total open interest, a gain of 5,009 from a week earlier. They also held 352,608 short positions, or 22.4% of total open interest, a gain of 5,190; they also had 238,067 spread positions, or 15.1% of the total for a gain of 17,252.
Commercials Tuesday held 408,528 long positions, or 25.9% of total open interest, for a gain of 22,626 from a week earlier. They also held 461,894 short positions, or 29.3% of total open interest for a gain of 26,976.
CFTC data showed total corn open interest at 1.575 million contracts, up 81,613, or 5.46%, from 1.494 million a week earlier.
CME data showed the most-active Dec corn contract declined in value during the CFTC-reporting week to settle Tuesday at $4.11 a bushel, compared with $4.18 a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $233.00 per cwt to $241.92, compared with the previous week’s range of $230.88 to $241.92 per cwt. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $365.34 per cwt to $379.69, compared with $361.69 to $379.55.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $1.90 per cwt at $363.22 while select was down $0.87 at $340.50. The choice/select spread widened to $22.72 from $19.95 with 54 loads of fabricated product and 18 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed the weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef was $417.19 per cwt, and 50% beef was $198.71.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.45 to $1.60 a bushel over the Sep corn contract, which settled at $3.89 1/2, down $0.04 1/2.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $335.89 per cwt, up $0.85. This compares with Friday’s Aug contract settlement of $334.57, up $3.20.