24 January 2011 at 8:41 GMT
The dramatic shift out of dollars into euros last week failed to attract additional buyers into commodities with the total speculative long futures position dropping by one percent to 1,692,000 lots, the fourth consecutive reduction.
Energy:
The net long was reduced by 32,000 primarily from a 22,500 increase in the natural gas short to a new record of -221,500. Small long reductions were seen in crude, heating oil and gasoline.
Metals:
Investors continued to reduce exposure in gold with the speculative long falling to the lowest level since July 2009, a 36 percent reduction from the high point in August last year. Silver was unchanged while platinum longs rose to a record high.
Grains:
The total net long rose by 28,000 to a near record of 941,300 lots as investors continued to increase exposure in corn (+19k) and soybeans (+7k) while the combined wheat position across three exchanges was unchanged.
Background information: The Commitments of Traders is a report issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission every Friday with data from the previous Tuesday. It comprises the holdings of participants in various U.S. futures markets split into "commercial" and "non commercial" holdings. The non commercial or speculative holding are typically institutional investors such as hedge funds and CTAs. The above chart tracks a total of 25 different commodities split into sectors.