STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 30 June 2014

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19. Hedge Funds Boost Gasoline Bets as July 4 Holiday Nears

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-29/hedge-funds-boost-gasoline-bets-as-july-4-holiday-nears.html

Speculators boosted bets that gasoline prices will rise on prospects for the most Independence Day traffic in seven years and fighting in the Middle East.

Money managers increased net-long positions by 7.6 percent in the week ended June 24, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Long positions advanced 5.5 percent and shorts fell 0.3 percent.

Americans traveling by car over the July 4th weekend will pay the most for fuel since 2008, AAA said last week. Pump prices are at the highest level for the period in six years, data from the motoring organization show. Gasoline advanced with crude this month after insurgents captured the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and advanced toward Baghdad.

“The gasoline market is relatively strong,” Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York, said by phone on June 27. “There’s anticipation of strong demand over the July 4 weekend and during July and August as a whole.”