Metals: The week to May 26 was a period where most metals paused with gold and silver both falling by 1.7% while copper was flat on the week. Gold's lack of hedge fund engagement continued with the net-long seeing another reduction of 14% to 24k lots, the lowest bet on rising prices in almost 12 months. An exodus from CME gold futures following the March dislocation to spot may have played its part with funds instead moving some of their long term exposure to exchange-traded funds. Total holdings in bullion backed ETFs broke above 100 million ounces for the first time last week.
Silver's strong rally following the March collapse paused but the established momentum helped increase the net-long by 26% to 27k lots, still 42k lots or 60% below what funds held before the mentioned collapse. Silver's recent outperformance of gold may slow after the gold-silver ratio reached a technical target at 95 (ounces of silver to one ounce of gold).
The HG copper short was almost cut in half with funds not yet benefiting from the recovery seen in this important industrial metal. Today the price in early trading moved higher again to almost challenge $2.50/lb, a level that provided support from 2017 before becoming resistance following the March collapse below.