Oil – CFTC data shows a surge in shorts

Oil speculators added almost 80,000 contracts to their short positions, the 2nd highest in 34 years as prices erased all OPEC-led gains seen during Nov 30 to Jan 3 period.

The CFTC data showed the net long positions registered a third weekly drop as hedge funds trimmed their net bullish positions by the most ever to 14-week lows. The non-commercial contracts of WTI crude futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 433,800 contracts during the week ended March 14^th.