The bulk of the reduction was seen in energy where the combined long in WTI (-34k lots) and Brent (-50k lots) was cut by 19% to 358k lots, a six months low. This in response to U.S. election jitters, rising Libyan production and not least the continued surge in Covid-19 cases hurting fuel demand, especially in Europe and the U.S.
All the five metal contracts, led by gold and copper, were all sold. The 7% reduction in the gold long took the net back down to 122k lots and near the lowest level in 17 months. The HG copper net-long was reduced for a second week but still close to a two-year high. The platinum position flipped back to a net short while the silver net long at 41.4k lots was close to unchanged.
The grain sector saw the first albeit very small weekly reduction in 12 weeks as the combined net-long across the six soy, corn and wheat contracts dropped by just 1% to 771k lots, still close to an eight-year high.
Finally all four soft commodities were also net sold with sugar, the recent highflyer, seeing the first reduction in seven weeks. In cocoa, 14.9k lots of selling flipped the net position back to a short for the first time since July.
The post U.S. election drop in the U.S. dollar and surging risk appetite would have seen many of these positions being re-established thereby adding further fuel to a renewed rally, especially across the metal sector as can be seen in the table below.