TOP STORIES
Funds Cut Long Positions in Corn
Managed money funds cut their long positions in corn for the week ended April 20, according to the CFTC.
In its weekly Commitment of Traders report released Friday, the CFTC reported that fund traders cut their long positions in corn by nearly 16,000 contracts. However, funds remain holding a large net long position, at just over 380,000 contracts.
STORIES OF INTEREST
Carrefour Has Momentum in France, But Needs to Keep It Up, Berenberg Says -- Market Talk
1231 GMT - Carrefour made its biggest market-share gains in four years in its home market in the first quarter, Berenberg says, adding that investors will, however, be keen to see this momentum continue. The French grocer booked 3.3% like-for-like sales growth in its home country, driven by its supermarkets and hypermarkets, though Berenberg notes that this beat was largely driven by non-food categories, benefiting from pandemic-related closures of specialist non-food stores in France. The brokerage says it expects that "investors will want to see momentum being sustained before gaining further confidence, particularly as coronavirus restrictions, which are currently supporting at-home demand, ease." Berenberg has a hold rating and a EUR17 price target on Carrefour stock, which slips 0.4% to EUR15.76. (joshua.kirby@dowjones.com; @joshualeokirby)
FUTURES MARKETS
Cattle on Feed Higher But Less Than Expectations
Heads of cattle on feed for the slaughter market are up 5% versus the same time last year, the USDA said Friday.
In its monthly Cattle on Feed report, the USDA said that cattle-on-feed inventory through April 1 totaled 11.9 million head, 105% of where it was last year. That's lower than the 106.2% uptick forecast by livestock analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this week.
Meanwhile, placements of cattle on feedlots totaled 2 million head, up 28% from April 1 of last year. That's lower than the 34% uptick forecast by analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
Live cattle futures traded on the CME finished down 0.1% at $1.15725 a pound Friday, while lean hog futures finished up 2.1% to $1.05725 a pound.
CASH MARKETS
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Apr 23
All figures are on a per-head basis.
Date Standard Margin Estimated margin
Operating Index at vertically -
integrated operations
Apr 23 -$ 10.92 +$ 95.30
Apr 22 -$ 0.11 +$102.22
Apr 21 +$ 0.52 +$ 99.81
* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.
A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of production of the animals.
Beef-O-Meter
This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite
values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.
Beef
For Today Choice 102.9
(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 104.3
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports
Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Friday rose $1.46 per hundred pounds, to $283.77, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices fell $1.56 per hundred pounds, to $272.13. The total load count was 124. Wholesale pork prices fell $3.22, to $110.06 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-23-21 1748ET
