CFTC data shows speculators piling into S&P 500 shorts while betting big on crude oil

Speculators are getting increasingly nervous about stocks and increasingly bullish on oil. That’s the takeaway from the CFTC’s latest Commitments of Traders report, released September 4, which covers futures positioning through September 1. Non-commercial traders, the category that mostly captures hedge funds and other large speculators, expanded their short positions in S&P 500 futures while simultaneously adding to their long bets on WTI crude oil. They also piled into shorts across treasury and metals futures. The numbers behind the positioning shift The prior week’s report, dated August 25, had already shown speculators sitting on a net short position of 67,994 E-mini S&P 500 contracts. The September 1 data indicates that bearish tilt deepened further. On the energy side, speculators held a net long position of 123,449 WTI crude oil contracts as of August 25. The latest filing shows that figure climbed higher, with traders adding to those bullish bets. In practical terms, each E-mini S&P 500 contract represents $50 times the index value, and each WTI contract covers 1,000 barrels of oil. Treasuries and metals also under pressure The bearish sentiment wasn’t confined...