According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended May 14, NET LENGTH for crude oil futures fell -6 528 contracts to 487 808 for the week. Speculative long positions declined -8 810 contracts while shorts slipped -2 282. Overall bets for crude oil diminished as traders awaited OPEC+ meeting. While they awaited the decision on whether the producers would agree to raise output, in the midst of recent Middle East tensions, the members decided to continue the predetermined output quotas. It could be a boost for oil price in the week ahead. For refined oil products, NET LENGTH for gasoline rose +3 523 contracts to 90 423, while NET SHORT for heating oil added +1 903 contracts to 14 935 contracts for the week. NET SHORT for natural gas futures soared +5 998 contracts to 73 899 contracts for the week.
Gold’s safe haven demand jumped sharply. NET LENGTH for gold futures surged +49 125 contracts, to 124 536 last week. Speculative long positions soared +40 560 contracts, while shorts plunged -8 565, resulting in the rise in NET LENGTH. We expect the increase in NET LENGTH for gold to stabilise in the coming week as the recent rally take a breath. For silver futures, speculative long positions added +196 contracts while shorts rose +1 448. These resulted in an increase in NET SHORT to 2 209 contracts. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures declined -2 943 contracts to 25 750 while that for palladium decreased -359 contracts to 7 621.
