Managed money, a moniker for large commodity index funds, again increased their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday while commercial traders boosted their total net short position.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission made the data known in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday with data from the week ended Tuesday.
FUNDS BUILD LONG CATTLE POSITION
As of Tuesday (before Friday’s steep selloff) managed money had a collective net long live cattle futures position of 139,126 contracts, up 2,534, or 1.86%, from 136,592 a week earlier for their fourth straight weekly increase.
Commercial traders, those who deal mostly in the cash, or commercial, market, had a total net short live cattle position Tuesday of 149,662 contracts, up 3,885, or 2.67%, from 145,777 a week earlier.
The CFTC said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 405,914 contracts, up 4,610, or 1.15%, from 401,304 a week earlier.
Managed money Tuesday held 159,075 long positions, or 39.2% of total open interest, up 3,846 for the week. They also had 19,949 short positions, or 4.9% of the total for a gain of 1,312. In addition, they had 51,033 spread positions, or 12.6% of the total, up 891 for the week.
Commercials had 48,417 long positions, or 11.9% of total open interest for a decline of 1,679 from a week earlier. They also had 198,079 short positions, or 48.8% of the total for a gain of 2,206.
During the CFTC-reporting week, the most active contract, Jun, rose in value to settle at $202.42 per cwt, compared with $202.32.
FUNDS STOPP SELLING CORN
After five straight weeks of selling, managed money bought CME corn futures in the week ended Tuesday, bringing their collective net long corn position to 128,433 contracts, up 54,513, or 73.7%, from 73,920 a week earlier.
Commercials also sold corn, arriving Tuesday with 390,308 contracts, down 32,838, or 7.76%, from 423,146 a week earlier.
Total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.880 million contracts, up 38,440, or 2.09%, from 1.842 million a week earlier.
Tuesday, managed money held 285,078 long corn positions, o4 15.2% of total open interest, for a gain of 54,524 contracts from last week. They also had 156,645 short positions, or 8.3% of total open interest, with a gain of 11 contracts and 328,043 spread positions, or 17.4% of total open interest for a decline of 18,340.
Commercials had 456,129 long corn positions, or 24.3% of total open interest, for a gain of 21,640. They also had 846,437 short positions, or 45.0%, of total open interest, for a decline of 11,198.
Most-active May rose to $4.61 ¾ from $4.57 ¾.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $210.15 per cwt to $214.47, compared with the previous week’s range of $202.49 to $214.41 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $329.75 per cwt to $334.79, compared with $319.17 to $337.40.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.08 per cwt at $338.45 while select was off $0.66 at $317.18. The choice/select spread widened to $21.27 from $20.53 with 78 loads of fabricated product and 24 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed the weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef was $381.63 per cwt, and 50% beef was $119.23.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.20 to $1.32 a bushel over the May corn contract, which settled at $4.60 1/4, up $0.02 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $291.95 per cwt, up $0.02. This compares with Friday’s Apr contract settlement of $279.42, down $5.97.