Edge's News: As Omicron Fears dissipates..... Hedge Funds Turn Bullish On Oil
In the final week of 2021, hedge funds bought petroleum futures and options contracts at the fastest pace in four months after market sentiment shifted over the past month from panic over Omicron’s potential impact on oil demand to moderate optimism that this COVID wave would not dent fuel consumption too much. Speculators and portfolio managers now appear more bullish on oil prices after the initial Omicron scare at the end of November that led to panic-selling and to the largest one-day slump in oil since April 2020. Despite the record high COVID cases in many countries in recent days, the market is encouraged by early data suggesting that the Omicron COVID variant is less severe. The OPEC+ group’s continued management of oil supply, restraint from U.S. shale producers, and the belief that Omicron might slow but not upend global oil demand recovery this year makes hedge funds more optimistic about oil’s prospects in 2022 than they were a month ago. The two maj...
