Jul 14, 2026
SPR crude sits at a 44-year low while COMEX gold stocks and coverage drain quietly underneath a Tokyo retail gold print still parked in the 98th percentile.
SPR crude is the headline: 319.5 MM bbl, the lowest since April 1983, down 10.5% over 30 days and still bleeding 1.9% on the week. A 44-year floor is not a level that gets there by accident, and the 30-day slide says the drawdown hasn't leveled off.
The COMEX gold complex rhymes with it. Total stocks at 27.12M oz sit at a 6-month low, registered gold at 14.82M oz sits in the 4th percentile of its short record, and coverage has fallen 14.3% over 30 days to 39.9%. Here the level and the speed disagree: coverage barely moved on the day (-0.6%) but the monthly bleed is steep, so the calm daily tape masks a standing erosion in how much metal backs the paper.
Silver pulls the other way. Its deliverable share hit a 6-month high at 28.5%, up 7.1% over 30 days, so where gold coverage thins, silver's deliverable pool is building. Managed-money copper diverges again: still rich at the 90th percentile of a 20-year record, but down 22.4% over 30 days, an extreme position unwinding fast.
China's reserves round out the board at 2,321.6 tonnes, the highest in its 11-year record, though the +0.3% monthly move is a slow grind, not a lurch. The read across the board: multiple physical gauges parked at record extremes while their daily moves stay quiet. Position is loud, velocity is soft, and that gap is what the data flags.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds 319.5 MM bbl, the lowest since April 1983. It fell 1.9% on the week and 10.5% over 30 days, so the drawdown is ongoing rather than settled.
Tokyo retail gold at Tanaka runs ¥23,098/g, in the 98th percentile of a 38-year record even after slipping 2.0% on the day and 4.0% over the month. An elevated level with a modest pullback, not a reversal.
COMEX total gold stocks are 27.12M oz, a 6-month low. Barely moved on the day (-0.2%) but down 3.9% over 30 days, so the drain is gradual and persistent.
COMEX gold coverage sits at 39.9%, the 16th percentile of its 6-month record. Down just 0.6% on the day but 14.3% over 30 days, meaning the metal backing each paper claim has thinned steadily.
COMEX silver's deliverable share hit 28.5%, a 6-month high, up 0.6% on the day and 7.1% over the month. The pool of readily deliverable silver is building, opposite the gold picture.
Managed-money net copper positioning is 58,784 contracts, still rich at the 90th percentile of a 20-year record. But it's down 22.4% over 30 days, an extended bet unwinding fast.
China's reported gold reserves stand at 2,321.6 tonnes, the highest in its 11-year record. The +0.3% monthly gain is a slow, steady accumulation rather than a sharp jump.
COMEX registered gold is 14.82M oz, a 6-month low sitting in the 4th percentile of that record. Flat on the day but down 2.2% over 30 days, a quiet grind lower in the metal marked as deliverable.
Sources: CME Group COMEX warehouse reports, LME warehouse data, EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report, ETF issuer filings, and venue price quotes. Every figure is computed straight from the stored source data; percentiles rank today's level against the series' full record.