Quote from ProgrammerGuy:
Who is currently short oil?
Hmmm - No one's announcing their short positions yet.
I believe oil is over done here but have no desire to jump on this bandwagon given hurricane season and all the sabre rattling going on with respect to Iran.
Nymex contracts may not be an accurate proxy for oil markets any more, but if you look at the current price structure and a snapshot done a year ago it paints an interesting picture.
Today
Year Ago
Note on the year ago chart, nearby months were experiencing contago which suggest ample supplies of crude were available to the market. The back months showed a declining trend with very little positioning, suggesting pricing would probably fall going out in time.
On Todays chart, the nearby contracts show significant backwardization, suggesting supply tightness. At the same time there is greater activity further out in the back months which shows rising prices. It takes a lot of couage (or inside information) to take these kinds of positions.
With all the rocket scientist financial engineering going on these days, the "enron" loophole, OTC market growth, rising hedge fund participation, pension plan participation, economic slow downs, credit crunches, and ICE, the underlying picture is much less clear theses days. According to the EIA, the US will import less crude this year than last. This suggests that demand destruction is in play which will either correct or at least stabilize prices at these levels. With discussions of alternative technology and more supply coming to market, the seeds of price correction are there for all to see.
The above charts were based on data from the WSJ.com which was provided by eSignal.