Gold & Silver Stocks Belie COT Caution

We all know that the gold and silver Commitments of Traders are very extended and at levels of commercial net shorts and large spec net longs that tend to be in place at tops in the metals. Well, the metals topped in the summer, so what does that tell us?

For one thing, it tells us that bull market rules are different from bear market rules as per this post from August as gold was topping.

Gold and Silver Commitments of Traders for This Week

Listen sports fans, I just call ’em as I see ’em. The Commitments of Traders for gold is as extended as it has been lately and open interest is significant. Speculators are all-in here and while we note that bull market rules are different than bear market rules, extended is extended. Gold is vulnerable to pullback by this measure, especially since the gold price is in the target zone we laid out months ago.

Gold dropped about 100 bucks an ounce from the time of that post and yet the CoT are not cured. Talk about bull market rules! CoT was and is a reason for a level of caution, but as noted last weekend in NFTRH 579 the charts of several miners we track (and I own) belied a cautious stance.

From #579…

The way things appear to be setting up is that the miners are preparing to be a ‘go to’ play when the stock market party burns out. Despite the caution begged by the gold and silver Commitments of Traders, the chart of HUI, the Gold/SPX ratio on page 30 and the fact that Friday was a holiday shortened affair, the overall look of our charts this week is constructive to bullish

HUI has gone on to have a thus far bullish week this week with a move to break the post-summer consolidation and as we’ve noted in NFTRH, the HUI/Gold ratio has remained intact and is also now in a bullish stance. It’s a leader, as is the Silver ETF vs. silver. Get a load of this. Continue reading "Gold & Silver Stocks Belie COT Caution"

Oil Prices Break-Out of Trading Range

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


Oil futures prices have broken above the trading range where they have been since February when the market was expecting supply and demand would balance quickly as a result of the OPEC/non-OPEC deals. But those hopes were dashed because the global demand was in a seasonal decline, and inventories remained stubbornly high.

Prices managed to break higher due to a combination of circumstances:

U.S. and Global Inventories

Hurricane Harvey in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) disrupted refinery operations, causing product stocks to draw rapidly. It was followed by Hurricane Nate, which disrupted crude oil production in the GOM.

In addition, U.S. crude exports reached record levels recently, averaging 1.744 million barrels per day (mmbd) over the past four weeks, a gain of 293 % from the same weeks a year ago. Petroleum product exports have also been strong, averaging 5.125 mmbd in the same period, up 23% v. a year ago.

Together, these trends have reduced U.S. inventories by 40 million barrels since the week ending September 8th. Global OECD stocks have dropped about 51 million barrels from May through September, though this is largely due to normal seasonal trends. Continue reading "Oil Prices Break-Out of Trading Range"

How The Natural Gas Storage Glut Has Been Cut This Summer

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports cooling degree day (CDD) data for every seven-day period by state. From that data, they construct a populated-weighted national total.

CDDs are the difference between the daily temperature mean (high temperature plus low temperature divided by two) and 65°F. If the temperature mean is above 65°F, we subtract 65 from the mean.

Example: The high temperature for a particular day was 90°F and the low temperature was 66°F. The temperature mean for that day was: Continue reading "How The Natural Gas Storage Glut Has Been Cut This Summer"

OPEC Oil Export Revenues Lowest Since 2003

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


But No Agreement To Cut Production Likely

OPEC President, H.E. Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, issued a press release August 8th announcing that an informal meeting of OPEC member countries would take place on the sidelines of the 15th International Energy Forum in Algeria from 26 to 28 September 2016. There was an initial price rise, but that faded on Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue reading "OPEC Oil Export Revenues Lowest Since 2003"

Natural Gas Producers Pressuring Futures Prices Lower

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


Natural gas futures prices rose by 2.0% last week (ending August 2nd to correspond to the data below) then dropped back to close the week 10 cents lower at $2.77.

NYMEX Nat Gas Futures Nearby Month

Prices rose in advance of the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Thursday storage report in anticipation of a draw in inventory, which was confirmed in the data release. As a result, the year-over-year storage glut was cut to 13.4%. Continue reading "Natural Gas Producers Pressuring Futures Prices Lower"