According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended May 28, Bearish sentiment was broadly-based in the energy market. NET LENGTH for crude oil futures slumped -39 460 contracts to 438 938 for the week. Speculative long positions plunged -21 546 contracts while shorts rose -17 914. Retreat of bulls and progression of bears suggests a gloomy outlook for crude oil prices. For refined oil products, NET LENGTH for gasoline declined -7 905 contracts to 79 064, while NET SHORT for heating oil gained +8 304 contracts to 20 387 for the week. NET SHORT for natural gas futures soared +24 973 contracts to 85 951 contracts for the week.
Traders continued to trim their long bets on gold. NET LENGTH for gold futures dropped -2 117 contracts to 86 688 last week. Speculative long positions declined -9 165 contracts, while shorts fell -7 048. For silver futures, speculative long positions dropped -1 819 contracts while shorts added +5 928. These resulted in an increase in NET SHORT to 22 409 contracts. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures declined -7 599 contracts to 7 891 while that for palladium increased +973 contracts to 9 022.
