According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended June 11, NET LENGTH for crude oil futures dived -48 513 contracts to 351 655 for the week. Speculative long positions plunged -23 490 contracts while shorts jumped +25 023. More traders were speculating weaker oil prices ahead, due to rising concerns of global economic slowdown. For refined oil products, NET LENGTH for gasoline declined -4 610 contracts to 72 294, while NET SHORT for heating oil added +3 340 contracts to 24 056 for the week. NET SHORT for natural gas futures rose +22 443 contracts to 126 948 contracts for the week.
Speculations for Fed funds rate cut in coming months continued to raise bets on higher gold price. NET LENGTH for gold futures rose +28 123 contracts to 184 238 last week. Speculative long positions gained +9 637 contracts, while shorts fell -18 486. For silver futures, speculative long positions gained +8 572 contracts while shorts dropped -2 531. These helped silver futures return to NET LENGTH of 2 660 contracts. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures dropped -117 contracts to 6 952 while that for palladium increased +352 contracts to 9 535.
