According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended September 4, NET LENGTH for crude oil and heating oil futures rose, while that for gasoline futures dropped. Speculative long positions of crude oil futures jumped +19 043 contracts, while shorts climbed +3 626 contracts higher, resulting in an increase in NET LENGTH, by +15 417 contracts, to 563 730 contracts. For refined oil products, Net LENGTH for heating oil futures added +5 994 contracts to 45 101, while that for gasoline fell -4 586 contracts to 102 544. During the week, the front-month WTI crude oil contract gained +1.96% while the corresponding Brent contract jumped +2.92%. RBOB gasoline price plunged -4.07%. Demand for gasoline should fall as the summer driving season ends. Net SHORT for natural gas dropped -357 contracts, to 65 912 contracts for the week.
On the precious metal complex, gold and silver futures stayed in NET SHORTS for a fourth consecutive week. Speculative long positions for the former contracted -7 608, while shorts rose +2 826, resulting in a surge in NET SHORT to 13 497 contracts. For the latter, speculative long positions were trimmed by -3 479 while shorts rose 8 897, resulting in a jump in NET SHORT, by +12 376 contracts, to 28 974 contracts. For PGMs, NET SHORT of platinum added +940 contracts to 11 916 while NET LENGTH for palladium soared +2 079 contracts to 5 963.
