Brent spec longs cut by 18 percent

Right on the heel of data from the US commodity market the Intercontinental Exchange has released data on money managers' speculative positioning in brent crude and gasoil for the week ending May 8. It showed that the net speculative long position in brent crude was cut by 18 percent to 103.8k contracts while gasoil traders pulled one quarter of their long exposure.

The net long position in brent crude has now been reduced by almost one-third since reaching a record back in March and with the average since the collection of data in January 2011 being 87k contracts, much of the speculative froth - just like in WTI - seems to have been almost removed. The gross short was unchanged last week with all the change in speculative positioning stemming from a sharp reduction in the gross long position This could indicate that this sell-off has more been the result of long-liquidation than a change in perception about the future.