Large commodity investment funds, known as managed money, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday, while hedgers boosted their total net short position.
The data came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday.
MANAGED MONEY GETS LONGER
Managed money took on a larger collective net long live cattle position in the week ended Tuesday with a total of 39,835 contracts, up 2,407, or 6.43%, from 37,428 a week earlier.
Hedgers, known as commercial traders because they own, or will own, the cattle, had a total net short position Tuesday of 114,340 contracts, up 1,461, or 1.29%, from 112,879 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at is new cattle position by liquidating 353 long positions, covering 2,760 short positions and unwinding 1,417 spread positions. This left them with 24.9% of total long open interest, 12.1% of total short open interest and 1,417% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 2,921 long positions and covering 1,460 short positions, leaving them with 15.4% of total long open interest and 52.3% of total short positions.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 309,780 contracts, down 2,958, or 0.95%, from 312,738 a week earlier.
The CME also said the most-active Jun live cattle contract declined in value during the CFTC week, settling Tuesday at $135.70 per cwt, compared with $136.80.
FUNDS ALSO GET LONGER CORN
Managed money also took on a larger total net long position in Chicago corn futures with a net position Tuesday of 371,914 contracts, up 10,664, or 2.95%, from 361,250 a week earlier.
Commercials Tuesday had a collective net short position of 768,010 contracts, up 8,397, or 1.11%, from 759,613 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 8,030 long positions, covering 2,634 short positions and putting on 1,378 spread positions. This left them in control of 25.2% of total long open interest, 0.8% of total short open interest and 6.0% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 5,584 long positions and adding 2,813 short positions, leaving them with 22.4% of total long open interest and 72.7% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.526 million contracts, up 22,042, or 1.47%, from 1.504 million a week earlier.
The most-active May contract declined in value during the week, settling Tuesday at $7.53 a bushel, versus $7.58 a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $136.00 to $140.97 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $140.92 to $145.00. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $216.09 to $220.18 per cwt, versus $221.90 to $225.95.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.23 per cwt at $262.64, while select was down $0.45 at $252.14. The choice/select spread widened to $10.50 from $7.51 with 58 loads of fabricated product and 18 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported that basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.30 to $1.40 a bushel over the May futures and for southwest Kansas were steady at $0.00 over May, which settled at $7.54 a bushel, up $0.05 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $154.82 per cwt up $0.13. This compares with Friday’s Mar contract settlement of $156.42 per cwt, down $0.35.