Hedge funds raised their bullish bets on US crude oil for the first time in three weeks, industry data released on Friday showed, as a technical rebound lifted the market from worries about a global glut that had hammered it to two-month lows.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported that money managers, including hedge funds and other big speculators, raised their combined net longs in US crude futures and options in both New York and London by 8,306 contracts to 180,564 contracts in the week to July 12. In two previous weeks, speculators slashed their net long, or bullish, positions on the NYMEX-traded West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude by total of nearly 44,000 contracts. In actual supply, that would be equivalent to almost 44 million barrels of oil.
Last week, managed money's net longs in WTI fell to the lowest in four months on concerns that a glut in refined oil products had added to the global crude oversupply that sparked a nearly two-year collapse in oil prices. While worries about the glut persisted this week, investors returned to buy WTI when it fell to a two-month low of $44.42 on Monday, triggering key support. WTI has rebounded further since, settling on Friday at $45.95.