Crude oil price strengthened for the second consecutive week but the gain was last than the prior week. We expect to see more profit-taking in the coming weeks. Concerning the precious metal complex, silver retreated after rallying to the 8-year high in the prior week. The rally in precious metals was followed through by platinum and palladium, with the former soared to the highest level since January 2015. According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended February 9, NET LENGTH for crude oil futures jumped +15 084 contracts to 514 258 for the week. Speculative long position rose +19 381 contracts, while shorts added +4 297 contracts. For refined oil products, NET LENGTH for gasoline slipped -145 contracts to 69 668, while heating oil’s NET LENGTH decreased -4 987 contracts to 14 725. NET LENGTH for natural gas futures rose +6 569 contracts to 36 150.
Gold futures’ NET LENGTH fell -5 719 contracts to 251 407 while silver futures’ NET LENGTH dropped -1 866 contracts to 49 543. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures soared +5 990 contracts to 36 200 while that for palladium added +38 contracts to 767.
