(Bloomberg) -- Speculators turned the most bullish on gasoline futures in eight months, with low prices potentially offering a buying opportunity ahead of possible supply tightness next year.
Money managers’ net-long position on gasoline rose by 6,546 lots to 73,037 in the week ended Dec. 10, the most bullish since mid-April, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Front-month gasoline futures are trading at about $1.99 a gallon, down about 5% for the year.
Traders may be betting prices will rise next year as planned refinery outages and closures threaten to shrink stockpiles of the fuel. LyondellBasell’s Houston refinery, which processes about 264,000 barrels a day, is set to close by the end of the first quarter and will start idling as early as January. The more bullish positioning came as inventories slipped to a three-year seasonal low, according to US government data released this week.
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