Hey Lee,

The key here is to look at the change in the Commercials 'net' short position. So simply take the 11,338 contracts that their short position decreased by from the 'Prior Reporting Period' and add it to the amount of increase in their long positions, which was 15,246 contracts. The result is a 'net' decrease in their short postion of 26,584 contracts for futures and options combined.

The decrease in their 'net' short position for just futures alone was over 21K, bringing them to a total short postion of 164.5K contracts there. Incidentally, that low of a short position for the Commercials is about the same as the October lows before Gold jumped up $200 an ounce, and is also on par with the lowest levels of the past 12 months.

Hope that helps clarify things a bit Lee.

And my best wishes to you and yours for the holidays! :)