CFTC Weekly: Rushing for the Exit

In the week ending 08 Apr, the benchmark crude futures contracts (Brent + WTI) witnessed a bearish shift in sentiment, with long-positioned money managers trimming a total of 165mb (-28% w/w). At the same time, short-positioned players were seen adding 48mb (+28% w/w) to their positions. Interestingly, while Brent saw a rise in short money-managed positions this week, WTI recorded a w/w decline in both long and short positioning, highlighting the unequivocal bearishness in Brent alongside rising de-risking in WTI futures. This de-risking may have come from the 02 Apr EIA release, which showed a 6.1mb increase in US crude oil inventories.