Hedge Funds Set Up for Mideast Standoff as Bullish Oil Bets Grow

  • Wagers on price rally climb by most in four months: CFTC data
  • Tanker seizure, drone attack drive WTI, Brent higher

  

Photographer: Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Escalating tension in the Persian Gulf is beginning to justify renewed optimism that oil will rebound.

Money managers boosted their betsBloomberg Terminal on rising West Texas Intermediate crude prices by the most in four months as of July 16, according to data released Friday. That left them exposed to a 7.6% weekly price drop as, for four days, the market focused on a worsening outlook for demand and seemed indifferent to geopolitics.