Money managers started 2021 with optimism that oil prices will benefit from a rise in economic activity as vaccines are being rolled out. Hedge funds and other portfolio managers held at the end of December 2020 the most bullish overall position in the most traded oil futures and options contracts since the beginning of 2020. Fund managers held an overall net long position—the difference between bullish and bearish bets—of as much as 741 million barrels equivalent of oil in the six most important petroleum contracts as of December 29, according to data from exchanges compiled by Reuters columnist John Kemp . This net long position was the highest net bullish bet on oil since January 2020, just before prices started crashing as the pandemic roiled oil and all other markets in February, March, and April. The bullish positioning of the hedge funds at the start of 2021 was not […]