Oil Speculators Cut Net Longs, But Selling 'has Room To Continue'

An analyst late Friday warned that oil prices could be headed for more declines. The latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission revealed that speculators sold 86,582 West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures and options contracts in the week ended March 14, but with the group still net long 315,077 contracts, selling " has room to continue," said Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures and OTC Clearing. WTI oil prices dropped 9.1% for the week ended March 10. The April contract settled at $48.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up about 0.6% for this week.