Traders Don’t See OPEC+ Substantially Lifting Oil Prices

Portfolio managers continued to be bearish on crude oil prices ahead of the now-delayed OPEC+ meeting, further selling off Brent and WTI futures and options and halving the net bullish bet on oil in two months.  The bearish positioning in crude oil in the past eight weeks suggests that hedge funds and other money managers are skeptical about OPEC+ managing to offset non-OPEC+ supply rising faster than expected, as well as concerns about economic growth. Some of the moves down in oil were also triggered by technical selling, while some hedge…