Large commodity index funds increased their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday as cattle owners boosted their total net short position, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report.
FUNDS BUY MORE CATTLE
Those large index funds, known as managed money, Tuesday had a collective net long live cattle position of 84,869 contracts, up 3,380, or 4.15%, from 81,489 a week earlier. It was their largest net long position since Aug. 24, 2021, when it was 87,407 contracts.
Cattle owners, commonly called commercial traders, had a total net short live cattle position Tuesday of 113,416 contracts, up 464, or 0.41%, from 112,952 a week earlier. It was their largest net short position since Sep. 20 when it was 122,111 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 5,773 long positions, 2,393 short positions and 5,747 spread positions. This left them in control of 33.8% of total long open interest, 8.3% of total short open interest and 17.7% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 15 long position s and adding 449 short positions, leaving them holding 10.7% of total long open interest and 44.8% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 332,624 contracts, up 14,380, or 4.52%, from 318,244 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Feb contract declined in value during the CFTC-reporting week, settling Tuesday at $156.85 per cwt, compared with $157.87 a week earlier.
FUNDS ALSO BUY CORN
Managed money also bought CME corn futures, ending Tuesday with a collective net long position of 199,954 contracts, up 36,288, or 22.2%, from 163,666 a week earlier.
Commercials sold corn, ending Tuesday with a net short position of 438,478 contracts, up 29,789, or 7.29%, from 408,689 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new net long corn position by adding 28,504 long positions, covering 7,784 short positions and putting on 7,826 spread positions. This left them in charge of 20.3% of total long open interest, 4.0% of total short open interest and 9.8% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 8,869 long positions and adding 20,920 short positions, leaving them holding 23.3% of total long open interest and 59.2% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.221 million, up 34,463, or 2.90%, from 1.187 million a week earlier.
The most-active Mar contract settled Tuesday at $6.76.70 1/2 a bushel, up from $6.74 ¾ a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $150.00 to $159.38 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $155.46 to $158.80. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $245.58 to $251.79 per cwt, versus $243.77 to $248.27.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $1.36 per cwt at $282.99 while select was up $2.39 at $259.34. The choice/select spread narrowed to $23.65 from $24.68 with 85 loads of fabricated product and 13 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were steady at $1.90 to $2.10 a bushel over the Mar futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $1.00 over Mar, which settled at $6.54, up $0.01 1/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $180.46 per cwt up $0.14. This compares with Friday’s Jan contract settlement of $182.70, down $1.10.