Major trading groups kept a near-steady hand on their live cattle futures positions during the week ended Tuesday, May 25, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.
FUNDS’ POSITION NEAR STEADY
Large commodity investment funds, known as managed money, had a cumulative net long live cattle position last Tuesday of 54,157 contracts, down 152, or 0.28%, from 54,309 a week earlier.
At the same time, traders who own or will own the cattle at some point, called commercial traders, had a collective net short position last Tuesday of 149,130 contracts, down 665, or 0.44%, from 149,795 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new net long cattle position by liquidating 1,639 long positions, covering 1,487 short positions and unwinding 3,821 spread positions. This left them holding 28.2% of total long open interest, 11.0% of total short open interest and 10.8% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were by liquidating 415 long positions and covering 1,080 short positions, leaving them in charge of 7.4% of total long open interest and 54.8% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest last Tuesday was 314,914 contracts, down 6,739, or 2.10%, from 321,653 a week earlier.
CME Group data also showed that the most-active Aug live cattle contract traded higher during the week ended Tuesday, settling at $120.10 per cwt, compared with $119.72 a week earlier.
FUNDS LESS LONG CORN
For the sixth straight week during the week ended Tuesday, managed money, became less long in Chicago corn futures.
The new collective net long corn position for managed money last Tuesday totaled 268,751 contracts, down 25,619, or 8.70%, from 294,370 a week earlier. It was their smallest net long position since Dec. 22 when it was 247,108 contracts. It also was down 128,480, or 32.3%, from the most recent high of 397,231 contracts set April 13.
The new collective net short position for commercial traders, last Tuesday was 640,234 contracts, down 36,708, or 5.42%, from 676,942 a week earlier and down 120,124, or 15.8%, from their most recent high net short position of 760,358, set May 4. It was their lowest net short position since Nov. 17 when it was 617,320 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money liquidated 18,052 long positions, added 7,567 short positions and put on 13,677 spread positions, leaving them with 17.8% of total long open interest, 2.2% of total short open interest and 9.7% of total spread open interest.
Commercials added 26,220 long positions and covered 10,488 short positions, leaving them with 30.2% of total long open interest and 67.4% of total short open interest.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle traded last week at $118 to $120 per cwt on a live bases, steady to $1 lower than the previous week. Dressed-basis trading was at $188 to $191, steady to down $1.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $0.99 per cwt at $330.97, while select was down $3.20 at $300.90. The choice/select spread widened to $30.07 from $25.88 with 60 loads of fabricated product and 20 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Friday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.05 to $1.17 a bushel over the Jul futures, which settled at $6.56 3/4 a bushel, down $0.07 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $136.12 per cwt down $0.45. This compares with Friday’s Aug contract settlement of $151.35 per cwt, down $1.50.