Oil prices stall as hedge funds stop adding to longs…Kemp, Reuters

John Kemp writes about hedge fund positions in oil markets:

“Hedge fund bullishness towards the price of crude oil appears to have peaked for the time being, with fund managers booking some profits after the strong rally in the final seven weeks of 2016.

…the lack of fresh long positions has removed one of the factors which helped push oil prices higher in the closing weeks of 2016 and prices have been trending down since the turn of the year.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their net long position in Brent and WTI futures and options by the equivalent of 15 million barrels in the week to Jan. 10.

Hedge funds had amassed a record net long position of 796 million barrels by the middle of December, up from a recent low of just 422 million barrels in the middle of November.

Since then, however, the net long position has been flat or falling, and had been cut to 776 million barrels by Jan. 10.

He notes that hedge funds are still adding to long positions:

Here is the link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/oil-hedgefunds-kemp-idUSL5N1F63CD