Live cattle futures headed into the weekend with weakness on Friday, as contracts were down 45 cents to $1.30. October fell $6.20 last week. Open interest was up 2,465 contracts on Friday. Cash trade picked up later in the week, with $222 sales across the country. Feeder cattle futures slipped back $1.55 to $1.97 to close Friday, with September down $8.12 this week. Open interest was up 2,250 contracts. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down another 67 cents on August 27 to $332.80.
Commitment of Traders data showed managed money trimming another 4,073 contracts from their net long in live cattle futures and options to 57,441 contracts as of Tuesday. In feeder cattle futures and options specs cut back 1,784 contracts from their net long to just 5,714 contracts in the week of August 25.
