Commodity funds with combined assets of about $10 billion are heading for the half-year mark with losses, with some hoping that improving market fundamentals will overpower worries over global growth and stimulus measures in the second half.
The funds, run by some of the most high-profile commodity traders such as Andy Hall, Stephane Nicolas, Chris Levett, Neal Shear and Chris Brodie, have declared negative returns through the first five months of the year, performance data from their investors showed on Thursday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A stronger dollar and weaker inflation expectations prompted further redemptions from commodity exchange traded products (ETPs) by investors in May,although the pace slowed from April’s record outflows.
ETPs, whose value is linked to moves in their underlying assets, are seen as an easy route into commodities. Commodity ETPs lost $6.3 billion last month according to data from BlackRock, compared with an unprecedented $9.3 billion in April. This was largely due to a reduction in outflows from gold ETPs, which totalled $5.7 billion in May, compared with $8.7 billion in April………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange unveils another rise in volumes, Galen Stops looks at what is behind the exchange’s recent success. 2012 was a year that most derivatives exchanges would rather forget. But for the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange it was the best year ever as volumes grew 138%.
The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange was founded in 2005 and had been growing steadily, if not spectacularly, until the beginning of 2011. That year it more than doubled the 2010 volumes, but with 4m contracts traded for the year, it was still a small exchange………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodity investments fell $27 billion in April, the most in 11 months, on record sales of gold exchange-traded products, Barclays said. Assets under management dropped to $385 billion from $412 billion in March, the biggest decline since May 2012, London-based Barclays said in a report.
Net redemptions in gold were a record 182 metric tonne worth $8.7 billion in April followed by another 99 tonne in May, it said. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Total Return Index of 24 raw materials fell 4.7% in April, the biggest drop since May 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold exchange traded funds (ETF), among the hottest financial products in recent times, may face a curious problem because of a recent RBI circular which bars the import of gold on a consignment basis for domestic use.
Authorised participants (APs) who create and redeem units backed by gold, and fund houses said this could crimp liquidity in the product and prevent growth of assets under management in quantity terms unless RBI clears the air on the issue………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodities revenue at the 10 largest banks fell 54 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to analytics company Coalition.
Commodities revenue of the top banks in the Coalition index dropped to $1.2 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier, the London-based Coalition said in an e-mailed report today. Revenue fell 24 percent last year, it said in February…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Global investment banks suffered another bruising decline in commodity trading in the first three months of this year, new reports showed on Wednesday, with Morgan Stanley’s revenues collapsing to a quarter of what they were a year ago. Morgan Stanley Q1 commodity revenues fall 77 pct.
While industry heavyweights Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan reported slightly higher revenues year-on-year in detailed quarterly filings made with the SEC in the past week, the overall sector continues to be squeezed by increased regulation, tepid markets, and low levels of client activity…………………………………….Full Article: Source

The decline in Scotiabank’s Commodity Price Index in April was quite mild - down 0.2% month-over-month (m/m) - despite a sharp mid-month selloff in gold and talk of an end to the ‘Super-Cycle’ in commodity prices. “Financial market concern over the outlook for commodity markets was overblown mid-month,” said Patricia Mohr, Scotiabank’s Vice President of Economics and Commodity Market Specialist.
“While China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed to 7.7% year-over-year (y/y) in 2013:Q1, from 7.9% in 2012:Q4, actual demand for raw materials was robust in China. The double-digit growth of China’s passenger car market, up 20% in Q1, reinforces its importance as a driver of growth in worldwide auto demand and related commodities such as copper.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Investors withdrew a record $9.3 billion from commodity exchange-traded products as gold sales pushed the metal into a bear market, BlackRock Inc (BLK) said. The outflow for commodities in April pushed the total for the first four months this year to $17.8 billion, compared with inflows of $6 billion for the same period last year, BlackRock said in a report dated April 30.
The previous record for commodity sales was $5.2 billion in February. Gold outflows were an all-time high of $8.7 billion last month as the metal slid to a two-year low in London on April 16, two sessions after falling into a bear market………………………………….Full Article: Source

Commodity-based exchange traded products (ETPs) suffered record outflows of $9.3 billion in April, data showed on Thursday, as institutional investors dumped gold holdings.
Leading wealth managers have been switching out of commodities since the start of the year in favour of equities and bonds as they look for yield, a trend which accelerated in April with a major sell-off across the commodities field, led by a collapse in the gold price. Global outflows from commodity ETPs tripled month-on-month, according to Blackrock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, while redemptions from the precious metals segment quadrupled after gold’s largest spot-price decline in 30 years………………………………….Full Article: Source

The commodities hedge fund industry is bleeding money. The average fund lost 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of the year, according to a closely watched index compiled by brokerage Newedge.
The losses come after commodities hedge funds lost 3.7 per cent in 2012, the biggest decline in more than a decade, according to the Newedge Commodity Trading Index. The average commodities hedge fund already lost 1.4 per cent in 2011, a significant change from the typical gains of 20-40 per cent per year in 2000-08………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Imagine an island on which magic trees grow. These trees, as it turns out, are exactly like the trees everywhere else, except for three things. First, these trees never die. Second, the trees always grow to exactly 100 feet tall eventually.
And third, to pass time on this boring island, the villagers place bets on which specific trees in a given acre of land (on which all trees were planted at the same time) will grow the fastest over the next 10 years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s main commodity imports are expected to rise in April from a month ago, supported by a seasonal recovery in demand, but the pace of growth in the second quarter will likely be capped by constraints on manufacturing.
China will release preliminary April trade data on Wednesday. Shipments of crude oil, iron ore and soybeans are all likely to have climbed for a second month, after shipments fell in February due to a week-long holiday, although copper arrivals may ease slightly due to port strikes in top exporter Chile, traders said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Copper has led the London Metal Exchange (LME) to a stellar close, after an interest rate cut from the European Central Bank (ECB) and upbeat US employment data spurred a massive short-covering rally in the recently heavily sold base metals.
At the close of open-outcry trading, LME three-month copper was up some 6.2 per cent on the day at $US7,270 a metric ton, having been dragged out of a bear market by a strong surge of short-covering aided by a stronger euro, heightening the appeal of the US dollar-denominated metals to euro holders………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Glencore completed its takeover of Xstrata on Thursday, becoming the world’s fourth largest mining company and the world’s largest commodities trader.The announcement comes after 15 months of difficult negotiations and lengthy antitrust reviews.
The merger adds coal, copper, zinc and lead mines to Glencore’s trade empire, which will now include more than 90 commodities “from copper to barley and from oil to vanadium.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The recent fall in commodity prices should “ultimately be viewed as a positive”, according to Rowan Dartington Signature’s managing director, Andrew Morris.The prices for Brent crude oil, copper and gold have all fallen by more than 10 per cent this year, partly due to concerns about global growth, but Mr Morris said the price fall will end up boosting growth.
He said: “A general fall in commodities… will in time be good news for growth prospects. By reducing imported or commodity-related inflationary pressures, this will not only help boost consumer purchasing power but it will take some of the heat off central bankers tasked with reigning in inflation.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Scotiabank’s Commodity Price Index rose by 1.6% month over month (m/m) in March, after edging down in February, and inched up slightly in the first quarter of 2013 from the fourth-quarter average. However commodity markets remain skittish, with a sharp selloff in gold in mid-April and softer base metal prices, after the release of China’s slower-than-expected first-quarter GDP advance, 7.7% year over year (yr/yr), down from 7.9% in 2012:Q4.
“Firmer overall prices in March were likely a surprise to financial markets,” said Patricia Mohr, Scotiabank’s Vice President of Economics and Commodity Market Specialist. “The advance was led by the Oil and Gas Index (+6.8% m/m), with gains in Western Canadian Select (WCS) heavy oil, natural gas export prices from Canada to the U.S. and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices in Edmonton and Sarnia.” (Press Release)

What happened on Friday, April 12 and Monday, April 15 on gold and silver markets looked like a gigantic earthquake – a drop of about $200 (13%) for the yellow and almost $5 (18%) for the silver metal. There has been a lot of hyperbole going on. We even heard it said that a move of that scale would statistically only be expected “once every 4,776 years.”
Going even further, John Kemp of Reuters calculates that, based on a normal distribution (by the way, market returns are not normally distributed), movements like this can be expected once in every 500 million trading days, or two million years. Sounds far-fetched?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The world’s top commodities traders have pocketed nearly $250bn over the last decade, making the individuals and families that control the largely privately-owned sector big beneficiaries of the rise of China and other emerging countries.
The net income of the largest trading houses since 2003 surpasses that of the combination of mighty Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, or that of an industrial giant like General Electric. They made more money than Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford Motor, BMW and Renault combined………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The world’s leading commodities trading houses such as Glencore, Cargill, Vitol, Trafigura and Mitsubishi, who represent a “vital nexus between producers and consumers of raw materials” have earned $250 billion over the past decade, surpassing the likes of JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
The commodities ’supercycle’ that began in 2000 in response to rapid Asian economic expansion has entered a period of slowing spin as prices of commodities ranging from oil to copper to gold face increasingly strong headwinds………………………………………..Full Article: Source

If you want to raise $10bn quickly, you need to know who to call. When Igor Sechin, chairman of Rosneft, decided to buy TNK-BP and create the world’s biggest listed oil producer, he faced a problem: banks would not be able to provide the full $55bn required.
So Mr Sechin went elsewhere. Late last year, he phoned two of the world’s trading titans: Ian Taylor and Ivan Glasenberg, the chief executives of Vitol and Glencore. In a matter of weeks, the trading houses offered a $10bn loan that the state-owned Russian company guaranteed with future supplies of crude………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Billionaire John Paulson lost more than $300 million of his personal wealth on his gold bet, as the precious metal fell to its lowest price in almost two years.
Paulson has roughly $9.5 billion invested across his hedge funds, of which about 85% is invested in gold share classes.Gold dropped 4.1% on Saturday, shaving about $328 million from his net worth on this bet alone………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodity futures turnover in India fell for the first time since inception in the fiscal year ended March 31, led by a decline in volume in bullion trade, and suspension of guar futures.
India, the world’s biggest buyer of gold, and second biggest producer of wheat, allowed futures trading in 2003 for local participants, and foreigners, who cannot trade in the space, can participate through stakes in commodity exchanges………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds were again positive in March, and +3.8% in Q1, with nearly 80% of the industry in positive territory for the year. March performance was representative of the trends throughout the first quarter, namely equities exposure led, credit and volatility strategies were positive, but below their 2012 pace, and FX and commodity funds were a drag on the industry’s returns, according to new data from eVestment.
Areas producing the best returns in March and Q1 were directional equity strategies, particularly funds targeting Japan and the country’s loose monetary policy fueled equity market rise. They are off to their best start on record. Emerging markets had a difficult month in March and have fallen after their strong start to 2013. India focused funds have given back over half of 2012’s gains………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Indian investments in commodity futures fell for the first time during the just-ended fiscal year, as regulatory curbs and stronger returns from equities drove investors away from commodities. The value of commodity futures trade fell 6% to 170.47 trillion rupees ($3.1 trillion) in the year ended March 31, data from market regulator Forward Markets Commission showed.
This is bad news for foreign investors who have bought stakes in local commodity bourses expecting that India would emerge as a thriving center for the derivatives trade, as the country is a leading consumer and producer of commodities………………………………………..Full Article: Source

It was a real bear market for steel in March across the globe with both domestic and export demand weak in major producing countries and there are no indications of a major price recovery in April.
In US market, flat steel market was bearish with The Steel Index (TSI) US Mid West (FoB Mill) HR Coil Index up 2.3% to US $618/ton after attaining a high of $622 per ton and declining trend is visible in early April, TSI Monthly Steel Report said. Cold Rolled (CR) coil prices were shaky and remained flat at the end of the month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After poor performance in the last few months, some investors have cut back their exposure to commodities and boosted positions in equities. While there are cyclical reasons to support this asset allocation decision, BofAML’s most recent work suggests commodity and equity returns are comparable in the very long run.
The S&P GSCI TR index only has history going back to 1970, while DJ UBS and MLCX TR indices merely date back to 1990. The Bank built a commodity index going back to 1930 and calculated average returns of 8% with a standard deviation of 11% in the 1930-2013 period, compared to 11% returns and 16% deviation for equities (S&P 500 TR)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The ANZ Commodity Price Index rose 7.4% in March, led by whole milk powder, pelt, butter and skim milk powder prices, in its third strongest monthly rise ever. ANZ economist Steve Edwards said the index, at 296.1, was now just 6% below its all time high, which was recorded in April 2011.
The only two months when the index has risen by more are November 2009 and April 1986 when it posted 11.13% and 8.84% increases, respectively. “Underpinning the latest lift was a strong jump in dairy and pelt prices,” says Edwards………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Louis Dreyfus Commodities, one of the world’s largest agricultural traders, on Wednesday reported its largest-ever annual profit on robust global demand for food products and historically high crop prices after a severe U.S. drought.
The privately held company said in an annual report that net earnings jumped 25 percent to $1.1 billion in 2012, excluding a $93 million loss in BioSev, the company’s ring-fenced Brazilian sugarcane milling business which suffered from low cane yields and low ethanol prices………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investment bank Goldman Sachs grabbed the top spot for commodities trading revenue in 2012 in a year when lower market volatility and tighter regulation crimped trading profits. The research report released on Thursday by London-based industry analytics firm Coalition showed Goldman’s commodity revenue beat JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley , which ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in 2012.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays were the two strongest performers in generating commodities revenue year-on-year in 2012, Coalition said. The report highlights how global investment banks fared in a particularly difficult year as clients’ trading activity in commodities shrank on increasing concerns of regulation and capital requirement following the collapse of MF Global………………………………….Full Article: Source

The CRB Index, an excellent gauge of commodity prices per se, ended a few ticks in the red, nearly unchanged. There was some weakness with the pork complex, feeder cattle and a few soft or tropical markets but otherwise, the session was subdued with the Index appearing dead in the water. But keep in mind that Thursday and Friday of last week, the Index posted impressive, ‘back to back’ gains making yesterday, a day of rest.
Despite the CRB doing little, there were several interesting developments yesterday that I found compelling. For starters, there was front month March oat futures that that hit a high of $4.283/4 a bushel and settled at $4.23, up 183/4 cents. From the low last Thursday of $3.90 to yesterdays high the market has rallied nearly 10%, visiting a level not seen since June, 2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Wall Street commodity revenues crashed last year to their lowest on record, as tighter regulation and limited price swings squeezed the once dominant traders of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley.
All three firms reported double-digit percentage declines in revenues for oil, grains and copper trading in 2012, illustrating how the one-time ‘Wall Street Refiners’ have withered in the face of subdued markets and restrictions on proprietary trading. The decline is most stark at Goldman, where commodity revenues collapsed by more than 60 percent year-on-year in 2012 to just $575 million, according to the bank’s annual report………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodity futures and options were the only derivatives that saw growth in trading volumes last year, the World Federation of Exchanges said, amid what analysts said was a weak U.S. market after the MF Global and Peregrine broking scandals.
The number of commodity derivatives traded across the world rose by around 19 percent for a second straight year in 2012, reaching 3,265 contracts in all from 2,749 in 2011, the Paris-based WEF said in a statement issued on Thursday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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In February 2013, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) globally had net inflows of $11.4 billion, according to new research published in the latest ETFGI Global ETF and ETP industry insights. ETFGI won the Best ETF Research award in 2012 in the ETF Express awards announced on February 28th in London.
Equity ETFs and ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $11.6 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs and ETPs with $1.3 billion, and active ETFs and ETPs with $1.1 billion, while commodity ETFs and ETPs experienced net outflows with $4.9 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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In February 2013, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) globally had net inflows of $11.4 billion, according to new research published in the latest ETFGI Global ETF and ETP industry insights. ETFGI won the Best ETF Research award in 2012 in the ETF Express awards announced on February 28th in London.
Equity ETFs and ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $11.6 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs and ETPs with $1.3 billion, and active ETFs and ETPs with $1.1 billion, while commodity ETFs and ETPs experienced net outflows with $4.9 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds held overall returns in positive territory this month, however, good performance from equity, credit and volatility strategies was overshadowed by losses from macro, managed futures and commodity funds. According to monthly performance data from eVestment, hedge funds were up +0.28% for the month and are up +6.87% for the year. Macro, managed futures and commodities strategies were down - -0.01%; 1.49%, and -3.01% respectively.
Directional equity is leading the industry early in 2013, with correlation with the S&P near all-time highs. Credit fund returns continued to be led by mortgage funds in February, but the group’s percentage of winners during the month dipped to the lowest level since May 2012, the last month in which credit funds posted an aggregate loss………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Glencore’s net income fell by a quarter last year due to lower prices for commodities, but it made more money from trading so did not suffer as much as some rivals. That modest drop was important as Glencore is just a month away from its takeover of miner Xstrata – which will make it the world’s fourth-largest diversified mining company.
The company said nothing about what assets it might dispose of after the merger. The market has been keenly awaiting a roadmap for the combined Glencore-Xstrata and had hoped that Glencore would expand on its post-takeover strategy as it announced the latest results………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When global mining giant BHP Billiton reported its results on Feb. 20, the company also updated the market on its view of global commodities. The company always provides great insight into what investors should watch within the commodity marketplace. Let’s take a look at the outlook that BHP sees across four of its key commodities.
Copper: According to BHP, the long-term fundamentals of copper remain compelling. While it sees robust supply growth resulting in a balanced market in the near term, the longer-term outlook is much stronger due to structural changes on the supply side of the marketplace………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bovespa stock-index futures fell as commodities declined on concern Italy’s elections may reignite Europe’s debt crisis, curbing global growth and demand for Brazil’s exports.
State-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4) retreated in Frankfurt trading as oil reached a seven-week low in New York. Water utility Cia. de Saneamento de Minas Gerais may be active after reporting profit that beat estimates………………………………………..Full Article: Source

This ought to be a great time for gold. Interest rates are generally low around the world, and major central banks have quantitative easing programs in place. Those conditions mean gold’s lack of yield is less of an issue, and they usually translate to higher gold prices. Just not now.
Amelia Bourdeau, director of foreign exchange at Westpac Institutional Bank, says the Federal Reserve is to blame. The meeting minutes released last week showed a hint of hawkish sentiment at the central bank, and she told CNBC’s Melissa Lee that was enough to spook gold buyers since the Fed is “the mainstay behind the higher gold trade.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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World crude steel production has gained 0.8% Year-On-Year (Y-o-Y) at 125 mn tons, according to World Steel Association (worldsteel). The data is based on reports from 62 countries reporting to worldsteel.
China’s crude steel production for January 2013 was 59.3 Mt, up by 4.6% compared to January 2012. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.9 Mt of crude steel in January 2013, an increase of 2.7% compared to the same month last year. South Korea’s crude steel production was 5.8 Mt in January 2013, -0.4% lower than January 2012……………………………………Full Article: Source

Commodities revenue at the 10 largest banks slumped 24% in 2012, the first drop since at least 2008, according to analytics company Coalition. The total fell to $6 billion from $8 billion in 2011, London-based Coalition said in a report on Friday. The lenders’ investment banking revenue rose 10% to $159 billion, the first gain in three years, it estimated.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of raw materials rose 0.3% last year, the smallest annual change since 1985 and its worst performance in four years. The gauge’s 100-day historic volatility last year reached the lowest level since at least 2002, when Bloomberg data started………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodity assets under management rose to $430 billion last month, as prices climbed and withdrawals from funds slowed, Barclays Plc said.
The commodity sector “appears reasonably healthy” as it topped $400 billion for the seventh straight month, analysts Suki Cooper, Sha Luo, Kevin Norrish and Marco Corsi said today in a report. Assets under management tracked by commodity-index swaps rose to $136.7 billion in January, the highest since September 2012, report said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Revenue from commodities trading at global investment banks fell by a quarter last year from 2011, making the asset class the worst performer in the fixed-income business of banks, an industry survey showed on Thursday.
Low market volatility and shrinking client activity were reasons for the drop, and the effect was particularly evident in energy and precious metals businesses, according to the survey by the London-based Coalition, a financial services analytics company………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodities have just hit a 10-year high for the month of February. Even the massive commodities boom that ran through 2007 and 2008 didn’t top the levels we’re seeing right now. The benchmark for this high is the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Commodity Index, which includes everything from oil and lead to cocoa and lean hogs.
And not only has the index set a new February high, it’s poised to rise over the next two months, based on the traditional seasonality of its underlying commodities………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Top U.S. banks face a decline in Commodities, as revenue fell by a third in the fourth quarter as hard regulation restricted activity among less shining markets and inactive demand for hedging, consultancy Tricumen said.
Banks do not break out commodities revenue when recording results, but the British consultancy projected that the number for U.S. banks in the last three months of 2012 moved down 32 percent year on year, at between $800 million and $900 million………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Assets invested globally in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) broke through the $2 trillion milestone at the end of January 2013 to reach a new all-time high of $2.05 trillion. ETF and ETP assets have increased by 5.2% from $1.95 trillion to $2.05 trillion during January, according to figures from ETFGI’s monthly Global ETF and ETP industry insights.
Market performance contributed to the increase in the value of assets held in ETFs and ETPs as 18 of the top 20 markets globally showed gains in January. Two of the markets with strong gains were the U.S. and the UK where history has shown that a strong January tends to be a good predictor for the rest of the year. A review of history in both markets shows that strong January performance is typically followed by positive returns in the subsequent 11 months………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodities hedge funds surrendered at least 20 per cent of their assets last year after investors pulled out large sums following the sector’s worst annual performance in more than a decade, according to fund managers and investors.
The average commodity hedge fund lost 3.7 per cent in 2012, according to a closely watched index compiled by Newedge, the biggest decline since the yardstick was created more than a decade ago and substantially worse than the 1.4 per cent loss of 2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Assets invested globally in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) broke through the $2 trillion milestone at the end of January 2013 to reach a new all-time high of $2.05 trillion. ETF and ETP assets have increased by 5.2% from $1.95 trillion to $2.05 trillion during January, according to figures from ETFGI’s monthly Global ETF and ETP industry insights.
Market performance contributed to the increase in the value of assets held in ETFs and ETPs as 18 of the top 20 markets globally showed gains in January. Two of the markets with strong gains were the US and the UK where history has shown that a strong January tends to be a good predictor for the rest of the year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Speculators increased their bullish commodity wagers for a third straight week before prices capped the biggest January rally since 2006 on signs that the global recovery will be sustained by central bank stimulus.
Hedge funds and other money managers raised net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options in the week ended Jan. 29 by 5.6 percent to 800,738 contracts, the highest since Dec. 11, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show……………………………………..Full Article: Source