Palladium price recovers from slump, CFTC data in focus – Commerzbank

Precious metal prices have recovered, notes Commerzbank commodity strategist Carsten Fritsch.

Precious metal prices are rising

“Silver is trading again at $27.5 per troy ounce. Platinum is priced at $940 per troy ounce and Palladium at $930 per troy ounce. While silver and platinum have only recovered some of their losses so far, palladium has fully offset the decline and is even trading higher than earlier in the week and about $100 above Monday’s 7-year low.

“The price drop was exaggerated. Apparently, market participants took a similar view, with the result that speculative short positions were likely covered in the days that followed. In late July, a few days before the price slide, speculative net short positions in palladium were only slightly below record levels, according to the CFTC.

“The CFTC will release the latest data this evening after the close of trading. This includes the week up to and including Tuesday, i.e. the last drop in prices. Therefore, it is quite conceivable that the short positioning of speculative financial investors reached a new record high earlier in the week, which is where the short covering started.”