Money managers’ position in NYMEX crude futures took a bearish turn in the latest reporting period, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released Friday. The CFTC data confirmed what analysts suspected was a drastic shift in speculative positioning recently after crude futures fell sharply March 8 and kept declining until a week later, when prices found some support. A sharp buildup in speculative net length left the market vulnerable to the downside, analysts said. Net length rose after OPEC’s supply-cut deal was announced November 30, and accelerated this year. It reached a record-high 405,328 contracts the week ending February 21, according to CFTC data. Article continues below… The following two reporting periods saw money managers cut back slightly on net length, but longs still outnumbered shorts by a nearly 7:1 ratio. But for the week that ended March 14, longs-to-shorts stood at a 3:1 ratio, driven by […]