According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended April 7, NET LENGTH for crude oil futures surged + 49 787 contracts to 484 895 for the week. Speculative long positions jumped +31 374 contracts while shorts declined -18 413 contracts. Crude oil price recovered from the lowest in almost 2 decades last weeks, on hopes that the emergency OPEC+ meeting could bring output cut. OPEC+ reached a tentative deal to lower oil production by -10M bpd in May and June. However, dissent of Mexico suggests that a final agreement, which requires consent of all participants, may be hard conclude. the G-20 meeting last Friday failed to made coordinated actions to lower output cuts. The participating countries only pledged to ensure oil “market stability” at the joint communique. We expect bets on lower oil prices to increase in the coming week. For refined oil products, NET LENGTH for gasoline gained + 3 081 contracts to 91 180, while heating oil‘s NET SHORT decreased -1 348 contracts to 8 639. NET SHORT for natural gas futures rose +10 028 contracts to 108 390 contracts for the week.
Gold futures’s NET LENGTH declined -9 907 contracts to 248 942. Speculative long positions plunged -7 649 contracts while shorts added +2 258. Silver futures’ NET LENGTH dropped -1 161 contracts to 29 717. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures dipped -827 contracts to 19 021 while that for palladium slipped -191 contracts to 721.
