Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, increased their collective net long position in live cattle futures as hedgers boosted their total net short position.
The information came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
MANAGED MONEY GETS LONGER CATTLE
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long position of 48,116 contracts, up 8,281, or 20.8%, from 39,835 the previous Tuesday. It’s their largest net long position since March 8 when it was 36,635 contracts.
At the same time, hedgers, known as commercial traders since they own the cattle and theoretically could make or take delivery of a futures contract, had a total net short position of 118,506 contracts, up 4,166, or 3.64%, from 114,340 a week earlier. It was their largest net short position since March 8 when it was 114,364 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 2,924 long positions, covering 5,357 short positions and unwinding 768 spread positions. This left them holding 25.9% of total long open interest, 10.3% of total short open interest and 8.2% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by adding 309 long positions and 4,475 short positions, leaving them with 15.5% of total long open interest and 53.7% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total open interest for live cattle Tuesday was 309,724 contracts, down 56, or 0.02%, from 309,780 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Jun cattle contract rose in value during the CFTC reporting week to settle Tuesday at $138.47 per cwt, compared with $135,700 a week earlier.
FUNDS TAKE SH0RTER CORN POSITION
Tuesday, managed money had a total net long Chicago corn position of 341,639 contracts, down 30,275, or 8.14%, from 371,914 a week earlier.
Commercials had a total net short position Tuesday of 726,617 contracts, down 41,393, or 5.39%, from 768,010 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 26,038 long positions, adding 4,237 short positions and putting on 4,225 spread positions. This means they held 23.6% of total long open interest, 6.3% of total short open interest and 6.3% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by adding 8,632 long positions and covering 32,761 short positions, leaving them in control of 23.1% of total long open interest and 71.0% of total short open interest.
The CME said total open interest was 1.515 million contracts, compared with 1.526 million a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $138.00 to $140.00 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $136.00 to $141.52. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $216.58 to $221.36 per cwt, versus $216.09 to $220.18.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $1.25 per cwt at $267.14, while select was up $0.18 at $262.52. The choice/select spread narrowed to $4.62 from $6.05 with 83 loads of fabricated product and 17 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported that basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.45 to $1.55 a bushel over the May futures and for southwest Kansas were up $0.10 at $0.10 over May, which settled at $7.35 a bushel, down $0.13 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $156.05 per cwt up $0.29. This compares with Friday’s Apr contract settlement $161.57, up $0.17.