Managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, trimmed their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday as hedgers pared their total net short positions.
The data came from Friday’s weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
MANAGED MONEY TRIMS CATTLE POSITION
Managed money’s collective net long live cattle position Tuesday was 58,745 contracts, down 2,105, or 3.46%, from the previous week’s 60,850 contracts.
At the same time, commercial traders, those who own, or will own, the cattle represented by a futures contract and approach the market primarily as hedgers, had a total net short live cattle position of 104,739 contracts, down 209, or 0.20%, from 104,948 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new cattle position by adding 805 long positions, 2,910 short positions and 362 spread positions. This left them in control of 29.9% of total long open interest, 9.7% of total short open interest and 15.2% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were Tuesday by adding 709 long positions and 500 short positions, leaving them holding 12.7% of total long open interest and 48.9% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 293,980 contracts, up 3,655, or 1.26%, from 290,325 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Feb live cattle contract declined in value during the CFTC reporting week to settle Tuesday at $154.86 per cwt, compared with $156.42 a week earlier.
FUNDS BOOST LONG CORN POSITION
As of Tuesday, managed money’s collective net long Chicago corn position was 193,989 contracts, up 37,254, or 23.8%, from 156,735 a week earlier, reversing a three-week decline.
Meanwhile, commercials had a total net short position of 466,714 contracts, up 15,162, or 3.36%, from 451,552 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 26,494 long positions, covering 10,760 short positions and unwinding 39,866 spread positions. This left them in control of 19.9% of total long open interest, 4.1% of total short open interest and 8.3% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by liquidating 55,475 long positions and covering 40,313 short positions, leaving them holding 23.6% of total long open interest and 61.7% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.236 million contracts, down 126,243, or 9.26%, from 1.363 million a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Mar corn contract rose in value during the CFTC reporting week, settling at $6.69 ½ per bushel, compared with $6.59 ¼ a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $149.09 to $159.50 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $150.85 to $156.00. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $237.81 to $250.98 per cwt, versus $236.10 to $242.19.
The USDA choice cutout Friday day was down $3.64 per cwt at $249.93 while select was down $0.44 at $224.56. The choice/select spread narrowed to $25.37 from $28.57 with 70 loads of fabricated product and 37 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 $2.05 to $2.20 a bushel over the Dec futures, which settled at $6.35, down $0.15, and for southwest Kansas were at $0.40 over Mar, which settled at $6.46 1/4, down $0.14 1/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $179.03 per cwt up $0.63. This compares with Friday’s Jan contract settlement of $182.45, up $1.37.