According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended April 9, NET LENGTH for crude oil futures jumped +35 301 contracts to 516 662 for the week. Speculative long positions rose +31 454 contracts while shorts dropped -3 847. Traders remained bullish as crude oil price extended the rally for another week. For refined oil products, NET LENGTH for gasoline gained +3 071 contracts to 88 501, while NET SHORT for heating oil dropped -2 748 contracts to 9 742 contracts for the week. NET SHORT for natural gas futures soared +16 052 contracts to 35 094 contracts for the week. Natural gas price remained stagnant as warmer-than-expected weather in the US this year restrained demand.
On the precious metal complex, NET LENGTH for gold futures jumped +10 808 contracts, to 105 364 last week. Speculative long positions gained +5 723 contracts, while shorts fell -5 085, resulting in a decline in NET LENGTH. For silver futures, speculative long positions dropped -2 583 contracts while shorts slipped -2 218 . These resulted in a modest fall in NET LENGTH, by -365 contracts, to 16 418 contracts. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures jumped +8 489 contracts to 31 844 while that for palladium dipped -588 contracts to 9 491.
