John Kemp writing at Reuters, July 13:
Hedge funds have stopped buying oil in recent weeks as the rally that
carried prices higher during May and June has run out of momentum, amid
concerns about the faltering economic recovery.
Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 21
million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options
contracts in the week ending July 7.
Funds have purchased just 2
million barrels over the most recent four weeks, compared with 72
million barrels over the previous four and 179 million barrels over the
four before that.
Last week’s sales were concentrated in Brent
(-15 million barrels) and NYMEX and ICE WTI (-10 million), offset by
small purchases in U.S. gasoline (+1 million), U.S. diesel (+2 million)
and European gasoil (+1 million).
The deceleration in hedge fund
buying has coincided with a loss of upward price momentum in the crude
market over the same four-week period...
....
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