The latest positioning data from the CFTC shows that speculators increased their longs of COMEX Copper by 3,320 lots for a fifth consecutive week to 37,971 lots as of 9 September, the highest since 1 October 2024, ING's commodity experts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson note.

Gold and Silver net longs trimmed

"The move was largely driven by rising gross longs by 3,365 lots to 49,808 lots over the reporting week. In precious metals, managed money net longs in COMEX Gold decreased by 2,445 lots after reporting gains for two straight weeks to 166,417 lots over the reporting week. Similarly, speculators decreased the net longs of Silver by 3,254 lots after reporting gains for three consecutive weeks to 37,768 lots as of Tuesday."

"Meanwhile, recent Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) data shows that weekly inventories for most of the base metals rose over the reporting week. Copper stocks rose by 12,203 tonnes for a second consecutive week to 94,054 tonnes as of last Friday, the highest since the week ending on 20 June 2025."

"Meanwhile, Zinc stocks rose for an eleventh straight week, increasing by 7,617 tonnes (+8.8% week-on-week) to 94,649 tonnes (the highest since 9 August 2024) at the end of last week. Aluminium and nickel inventories also rose by 3.6% WoW and 1.9% WoW over the week. In contrast, lead inventories fell by just 273 tonnes (-0.4% WoW) to 66,561 tonnes."