During the week ended Tuesday, managed money boosted their collective net long live cattle futures position, while hedgers advanced their total net short position, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
Those changes came as the most-active Jun delivery month rose to challenge the contract high and then fell back below the 10-day moving average.
FUNDS ADD TO NET LONG POSITION
Managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, had a collective net long live cattle futures position Tuesday of 106,144 contracts, up 1,690, or 1.62%, from 104,454 a week earlier. It was their largest net long position since March 7 when it was 111,453 contracts.
At the same time, hedgers, commonly referred to as commercial traders since they own, or will own, cattle and theoretically could make or take delivery of a futures contract, had a total net short position of 143,009 contracts, up 1,784, or 1.26%, from 141,225 a week earlier. It was their largest net short position since March 7 when it was 147,173 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by liquidating 103 long positions, covering 1,793 short positions and unwinding 3,359 spread positions. This left them in charge of 35.7% of total long open interest, 5.1% of total short open interest and 15.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 1,994 long positions and covering 210 short positions, leaving them holding 8.7% of total long open interest and 49.9% of total spread open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday stood at 350,959 contracts, up 1,474, or 0.42%. from 349,485 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the Jun contract settled Tuesday at $162.90 per cwt, down from $164.02 a week earlier after hitting a near-term top of $164.87 on Monday.
FUNDS SELL CORN AGGRESSIVELY
Meanwhile, managed money sold Chicago corn futures aggressively, ending Tuesday with a collective net short position of 111,784 contracts, up 101,725, or 1,011.3%, from being short 10,059 a week earlier.
Commercial traders Tuesday had a net short position of 128,753 contracts, up 72,831, or 36.1%, from 201,584 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by liquidating 36,063 long positions, adding 65,662 short positions and putting on 4,288 spread positions. This left them with 12.6% of total long open interest, 21.8% of total short open interest and 9.1% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 1,780 long positions and covering 71,051 short positions, leaving them with 30.3% of total long open interest and 40.8% of total short open interest.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $167.24 per cwt to $183.37, compared with the previous week’s range of $174.50 to $182.37 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $272.57 per cwt to $282.43, compared with $274.41 to $284.12.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $0.33 per cwt at $309.19 while select was up $0.67 at $288.16. The choice/select spread narrowed to $21.03 from $22.03 with 78 loads of fabricated product and 81 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 $1.71 to $1.83 a bushel over the Jul corn contract, which settled at $5.96 1/2 a bushel, up $0.07 1/2.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $199.46 per cwt, down $2.07. This compares with Friday’s May contract settlement of $202.52 per cwt, down $1.12.