This an e-mail I received from my very good pal who trades oil on Friday. Depending on whether you are a contrarian or not will form your opinion. The FED cut this week may or may not boost the price of oil. I still believe the dollar will tell the story and that it will rebound soon and oil prices will dive. This week will be interesting for sure. E-mail below
253–Non-commercials continue to buy NYMEX crude futures: CFTC report
New York (Platts)–14Mar2008/415 pm EDT/2015 GMT
Non-commercials, which are primarily comprised of hedge funds, added
13,768 contracts of crude futures on NYMEX, leaving them long 113,307 lots as
of the week ending March 11, according to data released Friday by the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
This was the largest long position since the week ending July 31, 2007,
as the continued buying by non-commercials pushed prices up towards the
$110/barrel level. Non-commercials were also establishing or adding to longs
in the options market just days before the April option expiration.
Commercials, which are comprised of oil companies, refiners and banks,
bought back 10,881 contracts of crude futures, lifting short hedges as prices
were racing towards all-time highs, not normally a trading strategy employed
by this group.
Non-commercials added 5,725 RBOB futures, leaving them long 51,175 lots,
just 2,000 contracts shy of the largest long position in this particular
market. Non-commercials liquidated 2,973 contracts of heating oil futures,
just prior to the market breaching the $3/gal level and hitting an all-time
high of $3.2220/gal.