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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Managed money reduced its long crude-oil position on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange in the week ended Dec. 1, according to data released Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

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Money managers, including hedge funds, held a net long crude-oil position of 12,752, down from 14,837 the week before. Traders in the category added 1,892 long positions and 3,977 short positions.
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The net long position is the difference between the number of long positions, or bets that prices will rise, and short positions, or bets that prices will fall.
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Producers, merchants, processors and users held a net short crude-oil position of 53,282, down from 59,713 the week before.
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Until recently, money managers were grouped with "other reportables" into a single "noncommercial" category. The CFTC has also split the "commercial" column into two, with one set of data covering swap dealers, and another detailing producers, merchants, processors and users. Regulators said they introduced the new reports to increase transparency in commodity markets.
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Swap dealers, often large financial institutions, conduct bilateral over-the-counter transactions, using exchanges to reduce their exposure to changes in commodity prices.
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Swap dealers raised their net long position to 58,677 from 57,004 a week ago.
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Other reportables held a net short position of 19,030, up from 13,366 the week before.
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Open interest in crude-oil futures rose 17,170 to 493,332.
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Week Ended Change From Dec. 1 Previous Week
Open Interest 493,332 +17,170
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Long
Producer/Users 113,018 + 9,166
Swap Dealers 94,406 - 621
Money Managers 33,341 + 1,892
Other reportables 4,429 - 2,687
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Short
Producer/Users 166,300 + 2,735
Swap Dealers 35,729 - 2,294
Money Managers 20,589 + 3,977
Other reportables 23,459 + 2,977
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-By Brian Baskin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2453; brian.baskin@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 04, 2009 16:06 ET (21:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 04 06 PM EST 12-04-09
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