Macro: Sandcastle economics
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Head of Commodity Strategy
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Leveraged funds continued to sell energy and metals during the week to August 21. Grain traders were net-buyers as they continued to struggle to find the direction amid mixed signals. Soft commodities led by the Brazilian real-dependent commodities of sugar and coffee continued to be sold.
As it turned out it was also a week where funds got wrong-footed by the market. Oil, gold, coffee and sugar were all sold into a rising market while soybeans and corn were bought into a falling market.
The gold net-short hit a fresh record after the first signs buying was more than offset by additional short-selling. The net-short at 79,000 lots was more than three times the size of the previous record from December 2015. The silver short jumped by 26% but stayed well below the previous record.
HG copper was bought for a second week. This came despite seeing the price drop to a 14-month low before recovering on Asian LME stock draws and a weaker dollar. The limited amount, however, still highlights a market that remains concerned about the impact of trade war.