Live cattle futures are up 15 to 75 cents across the front months on Monday. Cash activity saw sales of $242-243 last week, steady to $1 higher in the South and $2-3 weaker in the North. Feeder cattle futures are working higher after some early back and forth, with midday gains of $1.42 to $2.07. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $2.61 at $363.96 on September 4. The Monday OKC feeder cattle auction showed 9,400 head offered, ahead of the previous sale due to last week’s holiday but down from last year.
The Friday afternoon Commitment of Traders report showed managed money increasing their net long in live cattle futures and options by 4,290 contracts to 130,442 contracts by Tuesday. As of September 2, spec funds trimmed 2,205 contracts from their large net long position to 28,375 contracts. That is the lowest net long position since April.
