For the fourth straight week, managed money cut their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended last Tuesday as cattle owners added to their total net short position.
That was from the weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The report tracks relative positions of trader groups as of the previous Tuesday.
MANAGED MONEY SELLS CATTLE
Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, last Tuesday had a collective net long live cattle position of 95,628 contracts, down 4,953, or 4.92%, from 100,581 a week earlier. It was their smallest net long position since May 9 when it was 94,010 contracts.
Cattle owners, called commercial traders, had a total net short live cattle position last Tuesday of 130,792 contracts, up 1,029, or 0.79%, from 129,763 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by liquidating 3,427 long positions, adding 1,526 short positions and putting on 1,526 spread positions. This left them in charge of 34.4% of total long open interest, 3.8% of total short open interest and 13.7% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were last Tuesday by liquidating 2,893 long positions and covering 1,864 short positions, leaving them with 11.7% of total long open interest and 53.6% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest last Tuesday was 312,576 contracts, down 7,470, or 2.33%, from 320,046 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Oct contract declined in value during the CFTC-reporting week, settling last Tuesday at $180.90 per cwt, compared with $181.82 a week earlier.
FUNDS SELL CORN
As of last Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short Chicago corn position of 33,053 contracts, down from a net long position of 12,675 a week earlier. The move ended a three-week period of being net long.
Meanwhile, commercial traders bought corn futures, ending last Tuesday with a net short position of 161,303 contracts, down 49,912, or 23.6%, from 211,215 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 8,648 long positions, adding 37,080 short positions and unwinding 228 spread positions. This left them with 14.0% of total long open interest, 16.6% of total short open interest and 12.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 8,318 long positions and covering 41,594 short positions, leaving them in charge of 33.0% of total long open interest and 43.6% of total short open interest.
Total corn open interest was 1.292 million contracts, versus 1.304 million a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $181.39 per cwt to $182.58, compared with last week’s range of $179.34 to $190.97 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $288.78 per cwt to $289.09, compared with $282.49 to $295.81
The USDA choice cutout Monday was up $2.89 per cwt at $305.50 while select was up $3.22 at $280.45. The choice/select spread narrowed to $25.05 from $25.38 with 79 loads of fabricated product and 17 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were up $0.05 at $1.90 to $2.10 a bushel over the Sep corn contract, which settled at $4.75 3/4 a bushel, up $0.01 1/4.
No contracts were tendered for delivery against the Aug cattle contract Monday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Friday was $244.81 per cwt, up $0.29. This compares with Monday’s Aug contract settlement of $246.22 per cwt, down $1.52.