Hedge funds and money managers have increased their bearish bets on US crude oil as prices dropped to the lowest level in over seven weeks. In the week through April 30, money managers' position in West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased by 6,957 lots to 172,689 lots, marking the third consecutive week of declines. Hedge funds, on the other hand, raised their bets against crude by 9,705 lots to 78,141, the highest level since January. This adjustment in positions reflects the changing sentiment among investors and traders as crude oil prices continue to decline [fe20cbf2] [9c5f60d3].
Hedge funds and foreign exchange speculators have also reduced their bearish bets against the US dollar, with the net short position decreasing from $12.7 billion to $9.799 billion, marking the largest level since August. This comes as speculators also increased their net short position in U.S. 10-year Treasury futures to the largest amount on record, with a net short position of 889,385 lots. These changes reflect evolving sentiment among investors and traders as economic conditions and central bank policies influence market expectations. Speculators also adjusted their positions in other commodities, reducing their net long positions in gold and NYMEX WTI crude oil, while increasing their net long positions in ICE Brent crude oil [c1a2caaf] [44a5558f].
Short sellers have recouped losses of more than $25 billion in the last 30 days as the rally in US stocks loses steam. The receding bets of an early interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve triggered a selloff in the equity market, allowing short sellers to cover a portion of their heavy losses from last year. The benchmark S&P 500 index is down about 5% in April and off by a similar margin from its record high. Overall US & Canadian equity short exposure fell by $50 billion to $1.08 trillion in the last 30 days. Short positions on MicroStrategy and chip stocks were profitable, while short positions on Exxon Mobil, Alphabet, and Amazon.com were least profitable [f6331b42].