Risk assets saw more calm in the week ending 13 Aug, with crude oil specifically enjoying the newfound sentiment. However, this shift away from the previous three weeks’ bearishness was more a product of de-risking than one of bullish positioning. Long managed-by-money positions climbed by a combined 11.5mb (+3%) in Brent and WTI futures this week, while short positions declined by a whopping 54mb (-27.85%) in the two crude oil benchmarks. Nonetheless, this change in positioning took the speculative long:short ratio up by 43% w/w to 2.80:1.00, its highest value since the week ending 23 July.
