During the week ended Tuesday, large commodity index funds, known as managed money, sold live cattle futures aggressively.
At the same time, commercial traders, those who own, or will own, the cattle traded in the futures market, covered many of their short positions.
The data came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
FUNDS SELL CATTLE
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle futures position of 62,703 contracts, down 20,714, or 24.8%, from 83,417 a week earlier. It was their lowest net long position since March 28 when it was 59,486 contracts.
Commercial traders Tuesday had a total net short position of 103,162 contracts, down from 123,630 a week earlier. It was their smallest net short position since Nov. 15, 2022, when it was 101,623 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new position by liquidating 17,544 long positions, adding 3,170 short positions and putting on 2,318 new spread positions. This left them with 27.6% of total long open interest, 5.1% of total short open interest and 15.4% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 2,117 long positions and covering 18,351 short positions, leaving them with 14.3% of total long open interest and 51.3% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said live cattle open interest Tuesday totaled 286,270 contracts, down 6,999, or 2.39%, from 293,269 a week earlier.
The most-active Dec contract declined in value during the week to settle Tuesday at $178.62 per cwt, compared with $186.87 a week earlier.
FUNDS BUY CORN
Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short Chicago corn position of 99,522 contracts, down 6,050, or 5.73%, from 105,572 a week earlier.
Meanwhile, commercial traders had a total net short position of 91,532 contracts, up 6,471, or 7.61%, from 85,061 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new position by liquidating 5,779 long positions, covering 111,829 short positions and unwinding 2,187 spread positions. This left them holding 12.5% of total long open interest, 19.6% of total short open interest and 13.6% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by adding 5,798 long positions and 12,269 short positions, leaving them with 31.7% of total long open interest and 38.3% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said open interest Tuesday was 1.400 million contracts, up 43,190, or 3.18%, from 1.357 million a week earlier.
The most-active Dec contract declined in value during the week to settle Tuesday at $4.84 a bushel, compared with $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 $185.00 per cwt to $189.69, compared with the previous week’s range of $182.09 to $187.00 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $289.71 per cwt to $295.24, compared with $285.90 to $294.21.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.72 per cwt at $307.57 while select was up $0.43 at $280.12. The choice/select spread widened to $27.45 from $27.16 with 107 loads of fabricated product and 28 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 $1.25 to $1.35 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.80 3/4 a bushel, up $0.01 1/2.
No live cattle contracts were posted for delivery Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $239.73 per cwt, down $0.89. This compares with Friday’s Nov contract settlement of $236.90, up $0.40.