According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended May 21, NET LENGTH for crude oil futures declined -9 410 contracts to 478 398 for the week. Speculative long positions slumped -22 000 contracts while shorts also plunged -12 590. Uncertainty of US-China trade war continued to trim bets on crude oil futures. For refined oil products, NET LENGTH for gasoline dropped -3 453 contracts to 86 970, while NET SHORT for heating oil decreased -2 852 contracts to 12 083 for the week. NET SHORT for natural gas futures fell -12 921 contracts to 60 978 contracts for the week.
In line with our forecast last week, traders trimmed their long bets on gold as price of the safe-haven asset caught a breath after recent rally. NET LENGTH for gold futures plunged -35 731 contracts to 88 805 last week. Speculative long positions declined -22 733 contracts, while shorts gained +12 998. For silver futures, speculative long positions dropped -2 060 contracts while shorts soared +10 393. These resulted in an increase in NET SHORT to 12 453 contracts. For PGMs, NET LENGTH of Nymex platinum futures plummeted -10 260 contracts to 15 490 while that for palladium increased +428 contracts to 8 049.
