Bloomberg – Hedge funds slashed bets that oil would rise last week to the lowest level in more than a year just before crude began its biggest advance since May.
So-called long positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 31 percent in the seven days ended July 6 to the lowest level since April 2009, according to the weekly Commitment of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Oil rose 5.5 percent on the Nymex last week, settling at $76.09 a barrel as of July 9. It slipped 0.3 percent today to $75.89 a barrel at 6:30 a.m. London time.
