Goldman Causes Selloff In Commodities: Closes Top 5 Trade Of 2011: Long Crude, Copper, Cotton And Platinum (CCCP)

Wondering what just took the carpet from under the commodity complex? Heeeeeere's Goldman.

We are closing our CCCP basket trade, first recommended on December 1, 2010, for a gain of roughly 25% against our 28% target. This recommendation was premised on our belief that Crude Oil, Copper, Cotton/Soybeans and Platinum remain the key structurally supply-constrained markets. On a 12-month horizon we believe the CCCP basket still has upside potential, but the unrest in the Middle-East and North Africa region, and the potential for further supply shocks pushed the basket up significantly in a short period and our Commodity Research team believes that in the near term the risk/reward no longer favours being long the basket and consequently, we are closing the recommendation with good potential gains. While crude oil, cotton and copper prices have substantially exceeded our targets, platinum and soybean prices have lagged.

In the near-term we see crude oil price risk as becoming more symmetric. While the potential for further contagion risk in the Middle east remains elevated, there are now nascent signs of oil demand destruction in the United States (see April 5 Energy Weekly), but also record speculative length in the oil market, elections in Nigeria and a potential cease-fire in Libya that has begun to offset some of the upside risk, leaving us more neutral at current levels. As the accompanying note from our Commodity team points out Copper and Platinum face headwinds too in the near-term while we see upside in Soybeans (See “Target in sight, closing CCCP trade”, April 11, 2011).

And some more:

Risk-reward no longer favours being long CCCP

Although we believe that on a 12-month horizon the CCCP basket still has upside potential, in the near term risk-reward no longer favours being long the basket and we are recommending closing the position for a 25% return versus a 28% target. While crude oil, cotton and copper prices have substantially exceeded our targets, platinum and soybean prices have lagged.

Near-term crude oil price risk is becoming more symmetric

Although potential contagion risk in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains elevated and has pushed prices above $125/bbl, at these price levels the risks are becoming more symmetric, which shifts the risk/reward of being long oil. Not only are there now nascent signs of oil demand destruction in the United States (see April 5 Energy Weekly), but also record speculative length in the oil market, elections in Nigeria and a potential cease-fire in Libya that has begun to offset some of the upside risk owing to contagion, leaving price risk more neutral at current levels.

N-T upside in soybeans, but copper and platinum face headwinds

We still see significant upside in soybean prices, but believe that copper and platinum will face near-term headwinds as higher oil prices potentially translate into a negative demand shock for the metals and as these commodities are exposed to supply chain problems resulting from the earthquakes in Japan. This is particularly the case for platinum given its large exposure to global automobile production. Copper also remains vulnerable to slowing observed demand as high prices and tight credit motivate tight inventory management from key consumer China, which tempers the inventory draw we had expected and the risk of price spikes. As result, we are also closing our long copper and platinum trades, but even in these commodities the structural supply-side story remains intact, and we would look for new entry points to establish new longs.

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