Managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, trimmed their collective net long live cattle futures position for the eighth straight week during the week ended Tuesday.
At the same time, commercial traders, those who own, or will own, the cattle, covered more of their total net short position for as many weeks.
The data came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
FUNDS SELL MORE CATTLE
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 32,691 contracts, down 2,479, or 7.05%, from 35,170 a week earlier. It was their smallest net long position since July 26, 2022, when it was 31,041 contracts.
Commercial traders Tuesday had a total net short position of 90,911 contracts, down 318,000, or 0.35%, from 91,229 a week earlier. It was their smallest net short position since July 19, 2022, when it was 82,911 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by liquidating 1,526 long positions, adding 953 short positions and unwinding 3,734 spread positions. This left them in control of 18.7% of total long open interest, 6.7% of total short positions and 16.0% of total spread positions.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 2,406 long positions and covering 2,724 short positions, leaving them with 17.4% of total long open interest and 50.8% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 275,765 contracts, down 6,412, or 2.27%, from 282,177 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Feb contract declined in value during the CFTC-reporting week, settling Tuesday at $172.82 per cwt, versus $176.07 a week earlier.
FUNDS EXTEND SHORT CORN POSITION
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short Chicago corn position of 212,023 contracts, up 10,233, or 5.07%, from 201,790 a week earlier.
At the same time, commercial traders had a total net short corn position of only 10,964 contracts, down 34,589, or 75.9%, from 45,553 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 5,188 long positions, adding 5,045 short positions and unwinding 16,862 spread positions. This left them in charge of 12.1% of total long open interest, 28.5% of total short open interest and 12.9% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 41,504 long positions and covering 76,093 short positions, leaving them with 32.0% of total long open interest and 32.9% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.342 million contracts, down from 1.437 million a week earlier.
The most-active Mar contract settled Tuesday at $4.73 ½ a bushel, down from $4.89 a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $174.33 per cwt to $178.97, compared with the previous week’s range of $177.68 to $180.99 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $278.23 per cwt to $280.42, compared with $279.82 to $284.01.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $1.56 per cwt at $297.46 while select was up $0.74 at $265.49. The choice/select spread narrowed to $31.97 from $34.27 with 124 loads of fabricated product and 35 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.35 to $1.40 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.64 1/2 a bushel, up $0.02 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $225.89 per cwt, up $1.12. This compares with Friday’s Jan contract settlement of $214.42, down $5.52.