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COT: Record short Brent and gas oil positions add upside risks to energy

Commodities
Picture of Ole Hansen
Ole Hansen

Head of Commodity Strategy

Key points:

  • Positions and changes made by speculators in commodities and forex in the week to Septermber 10
  • Dollar short position reduced amid reduced long bets on euro and sterling selling
  • Crude oil net long slumps to record low as a Brent net short is seen for the first in recorded history
  • A relative calm week in metals ahead of gold, silver and platinum surge
  • Grain and oilseed traders continue to cover short positions

Forex:

In a delayed reaction to broad dollar strength in the previous reporting week, speculators covered some of their recently established dollar short positions in the week to September 10. Except for the yen, which supported by a 2.3% rally saw strong demand, most of the other major IMM futures contracts saw net selling, led by the euro and sterling. Overall, the gross dollar short was reduced by 21% to USD 12.8 billion.

A 36% increase in the yen long to an eight-year high at 55.8k contracts or USD 5 billion equivalent, being more than offset by an 18.6k contract reduction in the euro long to 81.4k or USD 11.3 billion equivalent, and a 17.8k reduction in Sterling. Elsewhere, the MXN long saw a further reduction to a 1.5-year low at 27k, down 80% since April.

16olh_cot1
Non-commercial IMM futures positions versus the dollar in week to September 10

Commodities:

Worries that the current weak demand outlook in China may spread to the rest of the world was the overriding focus during the reporting week to 3 September, when the Bloomberg Commodity Index suffered a 2% setback, primarily driven by weakness across the growth-dependent sectors of energy and industrial metals. In addition, a stronger dollar helped trigger profit-taking across precious metals, leading to the biggest—albeit still relatively small—reduction in the elevated gold long.

A near 7% slump in crude through technical support levels triggered a combination of long liquidation and fresh short selling, which overall left the combined net long in WTI and Brent at the lowest level in 12 years. Recent and persistent weakness across the refined fuel market helped drive an increase in the net short position in the London and New York diesel futures. Combining the five major crude and fuel contracts, the net long of these fell to the lowest level since 2011, when the ICE Exchange started to collect Brent and gas oil data.

Elsewhere, gold, as mentioned, suffered a small reduction while sellers attacked platinum to flip their net position back to a short. Three weeks of tentative copper buying saw a partial reversal as the High Grade futures price slumped by 5%.

The agriculture sector, meanwhile, saw net buying, driven by the grains sector following another week of sizable short-covering across all the major U.S. grain and oilseed futures. However, despite a 38% reduction from the July record short, the net short across the three major contracts was still a record for this time of year. Elsewhere, a second week of strong sugar buying helped lift the net long to a five-month high.

16olh_cot1a
16olh_cot2
Managed money long, short and net commodities positions in the week to September 10
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Energy: Accelerated selling was seen across the sector, led by Brent and the two distillate contracts. The Brent position flipped to a net short for the first time in recorded history (since 2011), while the gas oil and ULSD shorts expanded further.
16olh_cot6
Metals: Overall a relatively calm reporting week with only a few and minor changes seen ahead of gold's break to a fresh record, which supported a 10% weekly gain in silver and platinum, the latter driven by demand from wrong-footed short sellers. Buyers lifted the copper net long by 21% but overall the net has not changed much in the past four weeks
16olh_cot4
Grains: Accelerated short-covering across the three major grain and oilseed futures extended to a second week, led by corn and soybean buying. Since hitting a record back in July, the net short position has been cut by 51%.
16olh_cot5
Softs: Once again, most of the activity was concentrated in sugar and cotton, where traders constantly adjust positions to align with current price developments, which saw both contracts trade lower during the reporting week.

What is the Commitments of Traders report?

The COT reports are issued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the ICE Exchange Europe for Brent crude oil and gas oil. They are released every Friday after the U.S. close with data from the week ending the previous Tuesday. They break down the open interest in futures markets into different groups of users depending on the asset class.

Commodities: Producer/Merchant/Processor/User, Swap dealers, Managed Money and other
Financials: Dealer/Intermediary; Asset Manager/Institutional; Leveraged Funds and other
Forex: A broad breakdown between commercial and non-commercial (speculators)

The main reasons why we focus primarily on the behavior of speculators, such as hedge funds and trend-following CTA's are:

  • They are likely to have tight stops and no underlying exposure that is being hedged
  • This makes them most reactive to changes in fundamental or technical price developments
  • It provides views about major trends but also helps to decipher when a reversal is looming

Do note that this group tends to anticipate, accelerate, and amplify price changes that have been set in motion by fundamentals. Being followers of momentum, this strategy often sees this group of traders buy into strength and sell into weakness, meaning that they are often found holding the biggest long near the peak of a cycle or the biggest short position ahead of a through in the market.

Recent commodity articles:

11 Sept 2024: Crude slumps amid technical selling and recession fears
10 Sept 2024: US Election: will gold win in all scenarios
9 Sept 2024: COT: Crude long cut to 12-year low; Dollar short more than doubling
5 Sept 2024: Can gold overcome the 'September curse'?
4 Sept 2024: Wheat rises on European crop worries
3 Sept 2024: Chinese economic woes drag down crude oil and copper
2 Sept 2024: COT: Commodities see broad demand as the USD slumps to a net short
30 Aug 2024: Commodities sector eyes fourth weekly gain amid softer dollar and Fed expectations
27 Aug 2024: Month-long sugar slide pauses amid concerns of Brazil's supply
27 Aug 2024: Libya supply disruptions propel crude prices higher
26 Aug 2024: COT: Funds boost metals investment as dollar long positions halve amid weakness
23 Aug 2024: Commodities Weekly: Metal strength counterbalancing energy and grains
22 Aug 2024: Persistent supply contraints keep cocoa prices elevated
21 Aug 2024: Weak demand focus steers crude towards key support
19 Aug 2024: Resilient gold bulls drive price to fresh record above USD 2500
19 Aug 2024: COT Buyers return to crude as gold stays strong; Historic yen buying
16 Aug 2024: Commodities weekly: Gold strong as China weakness drags on other markets
9 Aug 2024: Commodities weekly: Calm returns to markets, including raw materials
8 Aug 2024: Sentiment-driven crude sell-off eases, allowing traders to focus on supply risks
7 Aug 2024: Limited short-selling interest observed during copper's recent aggressive correction
6 Aug 2024: Video: What factors are fueling the current market turmoil and gold's response
5 Aug 2024: COT: Broad commodities sell-off gains momentum; Forex traders seek JPY and CHF
5 Aug 2024: Commodities: Position reduction in focus as volatility spikes
2 Aug 2024: Widespread commodities decline in July, with gold as the notable exception

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