Copper Non-Commercial Positions:
Large speculators slightly increased their bullish net positions in the copper futures markets last week following a sharp decline the week before, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial futures contracts of copper futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 8,646 contracts in the data reported through May 16th. This was a weekly increase of 565 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 8,081 net contracts.
Copper speculators have decreased their net bullish positions five out of the past seven weeks with the selling accelerating on May 9th with a decline by over 10,000 contracts. Overall net positions are now under the +10,000 contract level for a second straight week .
Copper Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -7,288 contracts last week. This is a weekly gain of 1,012 contracts from the total net of -8,300 contracts reported the previous week.
iPath Bloomberg Copper Subindex Total Return Exp 22 Oct 2037 (NYSE:JJC) ETN:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the JJC iPath Bloomber Copper ETN, which tracks the price of copper, closed at approximately $28.92 which was a raise of $0.70 from the previous close of $28.22, according to financial market data.
*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the previous Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).