According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended October 9, traders turned less bullish on the energy market. NET LENGTH for crude oil, heating oil and gasoline futures dropped. Speculative long positions of crude oil futures declined -20 782 contracts, while shorts added +76 contracts, resulting in a fall in NET LENGTH, by -20 858 contracts, to 528 051 contracts. For refined oil products, Net LENGTH for heating oil futures dropped -736 contracts to 47 777, while that for gasoline was down -3 676 contracts to 108 965. During the week, oil prices continued to pull back from peak levels with the front-month WTI crude oil contract slipped -0.36% . Net SHORT for natural gas plunged -21 471 contracts, to 21 471 contracts for the week. The Nymex natural gas contract rallied +3.16%. Consecutive weekly surges has sent price to last winter’s level. US EIA reported that domestic natural gas inventory is staying 8-year low in the week ended October 5. This is another reason supporting bids.
On the precious metal complex, NET SHORT in gold and silver futures would likely stay for some time, as rising US yields are raising opportunity for holding precious metals. Speculative long positions for the former sank -12 744, while shorts rose +3 609, resulting in a surge in NET SHORT to 38 175 contracts. For the latter, speculative long positions fell -3 802 while shorts gained +950, resulting in an increase in NET SHORT, by +4 752 contracts, to 22 2250 contracts. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures added +1 177 contracts to 8 226 while that for palladium gained +1 249 contracts to 11 361.
