Hedge Funds Add Bullish Oil Bets With Mideast Tension Heating Up
- Money managers boost Brent-crude long positions to a record
- Short-sellers take positions to lowest in over eight months
What Saudi Corruption Crackdown Means for Oil Markets
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The Middle East is kicking things up a notch in the oil market.
Hedge-fund bets on rising Brent crude hit a fresh record as tension in the oil-rich region escalated, sending prices to their highest in more than two years. Bets on rising West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, reached the highest level since March. Disruptions in exporters Libya, Nigeria and Venezuela in past months hadn’t fazed investors enough to trigger strong rallies, but Saudi Arabia and Iran? That’s another story.