Commodity CFTC: Gold longs at their lowest point since 2008

Hedge funds and other large investors cut bullish bets on rising commodity prices by the most since November as risk-off sentiment in the wake of the Greek election eased the appetite for higher risk assets. The data for the week ending May 8 saw speculators reduce their net long exposure by 13 percent to 1,168,000 futures and options contracts, corresponding with a USD 20 billion reduction in nominal exposure to USD 90.3 billion.

Energy: All sectors saw a reduction in speculative long positions, especially WTI crude, which saw a net reduction of 63k contracts to 246k, the lowest level so far this year. Further selling following May 8 may have reduced the net long down towards 200k which corresponds with the average net long over the last three years. Natural gas bucked the trend with net longs continuing to build as investors jumped back into a market perceived as being cheap.

Metals: Bullish gold bets plunged by 18 percent to 121k contracts, the lowest since December 2008 and speculators now hold a very light net long position as it is some 36 percent lower than the average over the last five years. The gross short position jumped to 44k contracts as some technical traders sees the recent break of technical levels as a precurser for an even deeper correction. Copper continues to see a relative small net speculative postion as the long and short camps remain sharply devided over the future price move. Platinum gross short position is now back to the elevated level from where a strong (short-covering) rally occured back in January.

Grains: the soybean complex saw a relative sharp reversal ahead of last week's WASDE report with the soybean oil position, in particular, being scaled back. Despite the bullish WASDE report, soybeans succombed to further selling after the date this report was compiled, highlighting speculators' unease about being too long of anything currently.

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