Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The concepts of risk transfer and price discovery are well developed roles for futures markets. The interaction between traders in futures markets in the transferring and acceptance of price risk contributes to the discovery of price. Interaction of traders in the risk transfer and price discovery processes is examined in this dissertation. Data employed were for live cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange developed from the confidential daily records of reporting trader positions maintained by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The analysis was for the period February 1983 through September 1987. The nearby futures contract price, volume, and open interest series supplement the daily trader position data base. / Ph. D.

This report consists of a presentation of prices paid for the various classifications and grades of cattle sold in the Fort Worth Livestock Market during 1952; a comparison of 1951-1952 prices showing a sharp decline in the price of all grades and classifications which began in June of 1952; and an examination of some of the major factors contributing to the decline in cattle prices as reflected in the Livestock Market, Fort Worth, Texas. From a study of cattle prices that prevailed in the Fort Worth market during 1951 and 1952, and a consideration of some of the factors contributing thereto, the following conclusions are drawn: First, prices of all grades of cattle soared to unusually high levels during 1951, thereby accentuating the drop in price which occurred in the latter part of 1952. Second, the withholding of cattle from slaughter, during a cattle build-up process, rather than a scarcity of cattle in this country was primarily responsible for extremely high prices in 1951. Third, cattle production in this country has progressed in cycles of eight to ten years duration of each; the period under consideration was on the build-up side of the present cycle which began in 1949; and prices for 1951 and 1952 were definitely affected by cyclical influences.