As oil prices continued to rise from multi-year lows touched in
January, investors last week became more bullish and increased the
number of bets on a recovery in prices.
Net long positions, taken by large investors that the price of
Brent crude oil would rise, increased 13% during the past week,
according to the Commitment of Traders report from Intercontinental
Exchange Inc. (ICE).
Net long positions are calculated by the total number of bets
that the price of oil would rise minus the number of bets that it
would fall.
Brent, the global benchmark, has registered gains in the past
three weeks and is more than 30% higher now compared with its
mid-January low.
Some analysts caution, however, that the combination of ample
supplies and tepid demand that led to the dramatic slump in oil
prices last year shows little sign of abating.
Managed-money accounts decreased the number of long
positions--or bets that prices will rise--by 1,492 positions to
265,742 as of Feb. 10, according to the report. The number of short
positions--or bets that the crude oil price would fall--fell by
19,883 to 106,768.
The ICE report is published every Monday with data from the
previous Tuesday.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at Georgi.Kantchev@wsj.com
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