Despite the fact that Brent posted relatively large gains on Friday, the front-month contract (ICE) experienced the worst weekly performance in three weeks as the price of oil shrunk even below 90 USD per barrel (USD/bbl), i.e. 18-month lows.
Meanwhile, the CFTC released its Commitment of Traders (CoT) report. It showed further cut in money managers’ net position as both long position decreased and short position rose to the highest number of contracts in 10 months.
Today in early trading, after the initial surge above 91 USD/bbl, Brent falls back to about 90.50 USD/bbl.
Precious Metals
Despite the return of price of gold below 1600 USD/toz, the CFTC data showed on Friday that speculators raised their bets on an increase in price of gold.
According to the Commitment of Traders report, money managers’ net position (futures report only) reached the highest level since early may 2012. However, one should bear in mind that CFTC data are compiled on Tuesday which means they do not show actual positions after the FOMC meeting (last Wednesday) and might be thus slightly misleading. Recall that the market had probably expected bolder Fed action than “only” the extension of “operation twist” and gold thus fell below 1600 USD/toz in the second half of last week.