Money Managers’ Positions in Brent and WTI Crude Futures
On a net basis, it was a risk-on week for money managers in the week ending 16 July where long and short positions both increased. Long positions increased by 5.6mb (+1%), while short positions increased by a rather substantial 15.2mb (+12%), at the fastest rate since the beginning of July after the OPEC+ meeting. The long:short ratio subsequently came off from 4.48:1.00 to 4.03:1.00 (43rd percentile for all weeks since 2013). Bearish factors have increasingly weighed on sentiment, including economic headwinds from the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, and declining product cracks.
