Investors are showing no sign of turning their backs on oil heading into 2017. Money managers’ wagers on rising West Texas Intermediate crude prices are triple what they were at the end of 2015, and are the highest since the start of the crude market crash 2 1/2 years ago. Crude futures settled at the highest in almost 18 months on Dec. 28, with investors now eyeing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers to see who complies with agreed output cuts. Hedge funds boosted their net-long position, or the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a decline, by 0.6 percent in the week ended Dec. 27, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. WTI increased 3.2 percent to $53.90 a barrel in the report week before settling at $53.72 in New York on Friday. “We have a very confident positioning here,” Tim […]