Investors sold petroleum last week with the fastest sales concentrated in middle distillates as the economic outlook on both sides of the Atlantic deteriorated. Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 40 million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts in the week to Sept. 6. There were sales of Brent (-18 million), NYMEX and ICE WTI (-3 million) and U.S. gasoline (-3 million) according to data from ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. As a result the net position in Brent and WTI was reduced to 319 million (11th percentile for all weeks since 2013) down from 513 million barrels (50th percentile) in early June. Long positions […]