Hedge funds finally pulled back from bets on higher oil prices as the market faces its worst year since 2008. Speculators reduced their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude for the first time in four weeks, cutting their holdings by 5 percent in the week ended Dec. 23, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed yesterday. Long wagers dropped the most since August. Prices have tumbled to the lowest level in more than five years as U.S. output climbed and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries refused to make production cuts. The International Energy Agency and U.S. Energy Information Administration cut their estimates of 2015 global fuel consumption this month amid expectations for slower economic growth outside the U.S. “The weak physical fundamentals have weighed on the market,” Tim Evans , an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York , said by phone. “OPEC’s shift from a […]