CFTC Nymex: Money Managers Cut Net Long Crude-Oil Position

Published: Feb 03, 2012

By Jerry A. DiColo
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Money managers lowered their net long position in New York Mercantile Exchange crude-oil futures and options by 1.4% in the week ended Tuesday, according to data released Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Money managers, including hedge funds, held a net long position of 201,269 contracts, down from 204,044 contracts a week earlier.

Traders in the money-manager category cut their long position by 1,177 and raised their short position by 1,599.

The net long position is the difference between the number of long positions, or bets that prices will rise, and short positions, or bets that prices will fall.

Swap dealers, often large financial institutions, conduct bilateral over-the-counter transactions, using exchanges to reduce their exposure to changes in commodity prices.

Swap dealers cut their net short position to 176,227 from 178,033 a week earlier.

Traders in the producer category increased their net short position to 100,298 from 100,069 a week earlier.

Other reportables lowered their net long position to 42,380 from 44,763 a week earlier.

Open interest in crude-oil futures and options rose 75,378 to 2,320,615.

Beginning with data for the week ended July 12, Dow Jones Newswires changed its reporting on the commitments-of-traders data to focus on combined futures and options, which give a broader view of the market, rather than just tracking futures.

-By Jerry A. DiColo, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2155; jerry.dicolo@dowjones.com